The Curse of the Danaides
by greywitch135
Summary: Based on the Greek tale of the 49 sisters cursed to forever scoop water out of the river of death into leaky jars, told by the eldest sister Hypermnestra, the only one who escaped the curse. COMPLETED! PREQUEL TO AN ARROW LET LOOSE
1. My story

_"My only love sprung from my only hate!_

_Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" _

--From _Romeo and Juliet _(I, v, 140-141) By _William Shakespeare_

My father's insignificant pitiful love of us had always been exceeded by his immeasurable hatred for his twin brother, Aegyptus, and his hatred for his brother's 50 sons. Not only were they boys, and so infinitely more precious than daughters, as no matter how beautiful, graceful and smart my sisters and I are, as females we can never inherit his kingdom; but one of them was also the child of the woman he had loved, or held the illusion of love for. I rather think he was much more in love with himself, and besides, he is truly evil and has never loved us, his own flesh and blood, so how could he find it inside of him to love some one who was neither to him?

You see, my father, Danaus, fell in love with a beautiful woman, but she scorned his devotion and committed the unforgivable sin, she married his identical twin brother. As they were identical and you could not tell the difference between the two, he really could not see why she hadn't married him. He never realised that it could have been that he had never appreciated her as a person, for low behold, not even a month after the marriage, he was wed to my mother, in a desperate attempt to make her jealous. In fact, all it really did was make her wonder what she ever saw in him in the first place.

My poor mother, nothing she ever did was enough; she could never measure up to the woman who had betrayed him, while Aegyptus' wife produced an heir in less than a year of their marriage, my mother took two years to produce me, and as I am sure you will be able to tell after reading my story, I was very far from being satisfactory. Hours after giving birth to me she died, probably knowing that on Earth she was neither loved nor wanted. He never mourned her; I was the only one who shed tears for her, years after her death. Less than three months after my birth, my half sister was born, screaming and shrieking, she was to be the last child to be born singularly by her - my father's mistress and the bane of my life. My stepmother was then rapidly transformed from rags to riches after her hasty and often regretted marriage to my father soon after her daughter's birth.

Rather remarkably, every year from then for more than twelve years, the pitiable creature spewed out quadruplets in a vain hope that she might some day provide him with the male heir that he so desperately wanted. But alas, not one baby boy was ever born to my father, legitimate or otherwise, although; it was not for want of trying and certainly not for want of women willing and more than able to offer their bodies to him.

So, here I am, I was an incorrigible spinster and now I am a mother and a wife, I had 49 sisters, ranging in ages from a simple year younger than me, up until a full thirteen years younger, but then again, I did say that I had sisters, I no longer have them anymore. All of them were vain, foolish things with scarce a sensible thought in their heads except to their appearance, which, was always perfect and breathtaking. I imagined that they took after their mother. But they might have possibly took after my father, for you see, some where along my father's line, in a very distant connection we are connected to Io, the mortal pursued by Zeus, God Almighty. He turned her into a heifer to try and avoid detection from his wife, the Lady Hera who was not quite as foolish and dim as her husband was. She chased the poor mortal girl all the way from Greece to Egypt where Io laid down roots and lived for the rest of her life. If my sisters resemble Io in the slightest, I can almost see why Zeus lusted after her. Maybe that is the reason why I am often surrounded by immortals, I am related to Io after all, a mere mortal, loved by an exceptionally powerful immortal, maybe even though I inherited nothing of her looks, I inherited the charm that seduced the greatest immortal of all; then again, maybe I did not.

On the other hand, I sadly take after my father, I am grateful for the fact that he never acknowledges the resemblance between us. While my sisters were fair and beautiful and cared so much about their appearance and so little about who they are really underneath the image that they present to the world; I am dark and unfortunately tanned from spending so much time outside and to put it quite frankly I neither give a damn or care what people think about what I look like, merely staring viscously at people stops any questions or thoughts other than 'Zeus… is she going to kill me or eat me alive?'. The only difference between myself and that man are my eyes, my father's eyes are small, rather pig-like mud coloured eyes that my sisters sadly inherited, mine are a bright green that my step-mother could not bear to look at, after all, who wants to look into a child's eyes and see the ghost of your lover's first wife? Sadly I inherited nothing else from my mother who was reputed to be a great beauty in her day except for her eyes, when I was young I knew not whether I was like her character wise and while it had been a chance meeting in Death that told me I was a little like her, the fact that while my father told me nothing about her except for the fact that I was revoltingly ugly and she had been exquisitely beautiful, my uncle knew a great deal more about what she had been like and used to tell me all the time how much I was like her.

I suppose I am rather like Danaus character wise as well, but I like to think that I inherited all of his good points and skipped out on the bad points, although knowing my friends and my husband they would disagree if only for the fact that doing so would annoy me and annoying me and making me mad is the only reason Zeus put them on his sweet Earth.

My sisters took pleasure in learning how to sew, sing, play instruments and other boring, time wasting, tedious and often completely useless activities that girls are supposed to know. I on the other hand shocked my father, my many governesses and my stepmother, whom I sent into a dead faint that I rather hoped that she would not awake from, by learning to read. My beloved first nanny, who was dismissed for teaching me 'inappropriate subjects,' taught me to read, and to write a little, saying that every well-bred girl should be able to read and write, after all, was it not Cleopatra who spoke seven different languages and she was the greatest Queen of all time, and ruled without being dependant on a man, why could I not do the same? Girls may have the misfortune of being girls but that is not to say that we cannot be great you know. However in order to be great, first we must be educated and given as many opportunities as boys are and I was determined from a very tender young age that I would grasp as many of those opportunities along my life's path as I could and if only a few came my way then I would make opportunities for myself, and that was exactly what I was forced to do.

Under the illusion of learning pottery and painting I went to a tutor who taught me how to speak, read and write more than four different tongues, my father was amused in a rather cannot-be-bothered way when he heard this, and from then on often made humiliating and embarrassing jokes at my expense about the follies of teaching young girls to read and write, when lessons such as how to bear as many children as possible in the least amount of time possible then die quietly out of the way, therefore paving the way for another young girl who would do the exact same, would have been much more important. In his eyes we had no purpose except to produce heirs, and even then, like my mother and my stepmother, there was always some one else who could perform that duty so much better.

When my sisters went out calling on their numerous friends and flirted shamelessly with boys, I would disappear for days, wandering around outside, going to places where it did not matter who I was and whom my mother had been. More often than not, my stepmother would call me, quite viciously 'the odd little wild child.' I learnt early on that I was to avoid her as much as possible. She hated me because I was the eldest child; older than her daughter by a matter of months, and it would be my husband rather than her children's husbands who would inherit a kingdom that was rightfully mine. A kingdom that I did not even want, all I wanted was to be loved. But then again, we rarely ever get what we want. That was a hard lesson that my father had taught me with pleasure, which I learnt early on. To put it bluntly and simply, which I think is the best way to put things, in my childhood I laughed little, hurt a great deal inside, and due to my younger years and those lessons my father doled out to me, I was left scarred more in places people could not see than on the surface for the whole world to notice.

It was not only my physical appearance that set me at odds with my half-sisters, but also other things, for you see, I could see things that they could not. I could see the immortals, the Gods and Goddess, who flirted with the invisible borders between this world and their own. Indeed, I often saw Aphrodite, and although I am not vain enough to say that she liked me, she did show me a preference that was not shown to my sisters. Most possibly because they were beautiful and I was not, she probably felt for me an emotion that was suspiciously close to pity I should imagine.

I used to curse the differences between my sisters and I, they meant that I never really was one of them, and I was often left out and teased and bullied. Those difference were spotted early on by my father who used and exploited them and managed to make all of my family, all of my step-sisters hate and despise me. I learnt early on that to survive as an object of hatred in my family, no one would see me cry or see me show emotion for then they would have a hold over me. I learnt to put on a mask and to keep it on even though inside, my heart might be breaking ten-times over. I do not know whether all royally-born children learn to put on another face to hide the more fragile one within to protect themselves or whether only some learn to do so and it is they who survive. But now I bless the difference between them and me, for if they had not been there, separating us with a clear but invisible barrier that was unbreakable, I would have surely have shared in their cursed and ill chosen fate, I would have had a share in their curse, the curse of the Danaides.

My name is Hypermnestra, and this is my story, a story that spans a distance of two countries, and more than thirteen years and yet this love between myself and the man I have yet to describe, survived through all of that time and separation, but it also a tale of my love for my enemy… my love that was great enough to move me to defy my father… which saved me from my sisters fate… my love which shocked everyone, especially me. I had never known what love was until I met him and my heart was a frozen place where no man had ever been, but some how through those thirteen years, he managed to find a place in my heart and make it his own, so that now, I have no room there for myself, I gave it all to him, however unwillingly. For you see, never in all my few mortal years had I ever imagined such a love. I never thought that anyone would be fool enough to love me, being who I was, hard and rock solid as it is obviously all men are fools and only some are bigger fools than others. But I had never in all of my most wildest dreams, and as you will soon see that of those I have had many, had I ever imagined that I would be taught how to love… for you see, those who have never known love find it extremely hard to love some one else fully and by that I mean with all their heart, holding nothing back because that it the only way to love some one, and I had never known love before him.


	2. The day that changed my life

_"My only love sprung from my only hate!_

_Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" _

--From _Romeo and Juliet _(I, v, 140-141) By _William Shakespeare_

Ever since we were out of the cradle, father lectured us on the evilness of our cousins. That man would sit in his chair in front of the heath like the arrogant and pompous King he was, with myself and all of my other half-sisters who could walk and talk and therefore understand the hideous things he was speaking, gathered in a circle in front of him where he could glare at us and give out punishments if we moved or fidgeted, even if it was the slightest twitch of a toe because we had cramps in our feet from sitting so still, we would be punished. He told us how we were never to go near them, and about what would happen if we did. Many nights after his alcohol induced rants we would go to bed and wake up during the night screaming in terror, we experienced nightmares based mainly on the things he talked about. He would speak of how they were the devil incarnated, and the many horrible, disgusting things they would do to little girls like us. Most of those things I think came from his perverted imagination that was, believe me, very extensive and detailed, I have experienced his perverse nature more than once and I would be shocked if in my life time I ever met a man like him again, more than shocked, I would be horrified, but fear not, I know perfectly well what I would do if I ever met some one like him, I would, to put it bluntly, kill them as fast as I could to put all the people harmed by him out of their misery.

Even as a little girl I had a fiery temper, many a time I would be beaten because of fighting with my poor, weak half-sisters, and trust me my father loved it when I was beaten, he seemed to think that it would some how change me or make me humble, it truly did nothing of them sort readers, it only made me etch on my memory every hit, every bruise, every hurt, and those memories made me hate him more than ever. My stepmother seemed to think her girls were little angels, but in reality, even though they looked like cherubs, they were the same girls who gave me black eyes and bruises, but I am glad to say that in exchange they received much worse; for I vowed that if I was ever injured, then the person who had hurt me would receive ten-fold in pain. They were patted on the head pampered and fussed over while I was locked in my room and ignored for days. Such as it was, they were the favoured children, favoured at least by my step-mother and I… well… I was the freak of nature who was anything but favoured.

The day that would change my life was my thirteenth birthday. I thought myself very much a fully-grown woman in my pride, and had even received a precious necklace from my father. It was gold with a tiny 'D' on for 'Danaide.' My pleasure in it soon waned when I realised father intended to give all of us one, as a way of putting his mark on us, so that if anyone saw us, they would know that we were his. It was his way of branding us as his and aside from stamping a boiling hot molten iron cross on our foreheads and therefore scarring us hideously and greatly lowering the possibility of us finding husbands, it was the only thing he could have done, I am sure though that scarring us for life using methods like the molten cross did however cross his mind more than once.

Nobody knew that I had a secret place that I would go to, I would often spend more than one night there for it took quite a long time to get to, as I crossed many borders, but nobody missed me, and few people wondered where I went. My haven was an oasis in the midst of the seas of sand, a place of calm in the frenzy that is mortal life. My stepmother once asked me why I could not stay there all the time, but I am sure she was only getting back at me for biting her eldest born, Gorgophone. I do not think that she ever really forgave me for that, as Gorgophone was left slightly marred with a small scar on her hand, but Gorgophone should not have called my mother a whore, in fact she should have known better, I was not born out of wedlock, she was.

So… I left as soon as I could, and ran all the way. I was ecstatic, it was my birthday and so far, everything was going well, for I had not been shouted at and my half-sisters had ignored me rather than fighting with me. When I got there, I was horrified to find other people, there in my private place, how dare they! Not realising who they were I lay down, hidden in the bushes and trees in my old clothes that had been stolen from my father, and enviously watched them as they played games together, they were all boys, all brothers. Not a single one of them was left out or forgotten in their game, the smallest of them had as great a part to play as the tallest, and while they were similar, they were all very different as well.

Some were tall, and some shorter, they had many different hair colours, ranging from black to blonde and all the mottled colours in between, and while it was evident that many did not share the same mother, from their similar facial shape and physical built it was safe to say they shared the same father.

I was quite happy just watching them play, and wondering if I could pluck up enough courage to ask them if I could join them, half hoping in my naïve childishness that they would see me and ask if I wanted to join in and maybe then I would have some play-mates, how foolish I had been in my youth, how innocent! When I looked up and they had vanished, I looked around and could see them as they crept up on me.

With a shriek I finally noticed their numbers and realised who they were, the sons of Aegyptus, our sworn enemies, the devil incarnate in human flesh. I was terrified, got to my feet and started to run, but one of them grabbed me from behind, grabbing a sizable chunk of my short hair I shrieked and kicked at him from behind, catching him with my foot once or twice but still he did not drop me and his painful grip on my hair only tightened. He noticed the necklace and touched the golden 'D.' Dropping me to the ground like I was dirt instead of a Princess, he turned to his brothers, announcing that he had captured the eldest Danaide. They crowded round me in a circle, intimidating me with their numbers, but I refused to even look intimidated and stared at them with a face that looked like I was eating rock, I was determined that they would not see my fright or know how scared I was at that moment.

Anybody who saw that necklace could tell I was the eldest, for not only did everyone know that I was the odd one out, that Danaus had a devil daughter, neither fair nor beautiful, but my younger sisters were fairly well known around the country, due to their frequent outings with my step-mother, while I was kept inside away from people so I did not shame or humiliate my father.

I watched, fearful, but totally resolute that I would glare at them like I never had done before, they seemed endless as they surround me, all I could do was pray to the Gods that at least half of what my father had said was not true. They laughed at me, for I was dressed rather scruffily, I had twigs and leaves in my hair and mud smudged over my face, yet still I stood up straight and proud, trying desperately to be what I was, the daughter of a King, and failing miserably, I did not look at all like the young princess I was, more like a deluded and crazed daughter of a farmer.

It was then that he came, pushing though his brothers so that he could stand in front of me and threaten me further or look at me as if I was not fit to kiss his feet. Oh… I detested him on sight. Tall, arrogant and exactly like my father, confident that he was right, and everyone else was wrong. He was quite clearly the eldest, not only did he stand head and shoulders taller than the others and me, but it was just the way he held himself, like a young King-in-waiting. But still… something about him twitched at my memory and something in the way he grinned and his black eyes made me remember things that I had buried long ago and the way he impudently looked at me made me sure that he recognised me from some where. But it was nothing, something that was gone in the moment and it was probably my imagination, for I was sure that if I had seen him before I would have recognised him.

"Looks like I pulled the short straw in wives brothers, what do you think? She's not much of a beauty, is she?" Those black eyes shone with fire and I started o think that maybe my father had been right, maybe Aegyptus' sons were the devil incarnate, I mean what other people other than the devil had black eyes?

He made me so mad, I, his wife? Never! How dare he criticise my looks, how did he dare? Something inside me snapped and the mask that I usually maintained well broke and fell to my feet in tatters. I moved forward, and slapped him, as hard as I could, and was immensely satisfied to see the imprint that my hand had made on his cheek. Then I walked backward, shocked at how such a minor insult had made me lose control so quickly when I had heard much worse off my father, maybe he was simply the straw that had broken the back of the camel.

To my surprise all he did was turn around to his brother and laugh,

"Does any one want to swap wives brothers?"

The nerve of him, the very cheek, no one spoke up, but then again I had never expected anyone to. I was incensed.

"Who are you, to talk about me in such a way? Your hair is too black and you are too tall, you look like a hideous giant, I do not believe you at all and I would rather marry a pig than marry you."

"I," he said, ignoring the hideous giant remark and the other, rather childish, insults that I had made, "Am Lynceus son of Aegyptus, heir to my father's country, Egypt, and also that of my Uncle, Danaus, in a few more years time." He grinned evilly at me, and all around him, his brothers laughed and cracked identical evil grins. I felt surrounded by demons as I turned around, waiting for an opening out of which I could escape this hell.

Him, heir to my country? Was he mad, deranged or both? I would never marry him and I would never marry anyone, so how did he think that he could gain my country? I drew myself up to my full height, I was taller than all of my sisters and all of the woman servants, but I was still smaller than him, I placed my hands on my hips and addressed him in my most royal voice, designed to give some one a severe put down and literally soak them in shame and humiliation.

"You are mistaken, for I am Hypermnestra, daughter of Danaus, and it is I who is heir to my father's country, not you. Beside I will never, ever marry you and give you my country, Zeus will masquerade as Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, and tell the world how he will never touch another woman again, before I marry you."

The wretched boy copied my voice and my stance, putting his hands on his hips and prancing around in a manner that made his brothers laugh again. "It is you who are mistaken, my darling wife-to-be, for a girl cannot inherit her father's throne, it is your husband, me, that will inherit it, not you. Should I arrange with Aphrodite when it is acceptable for Zeus to masquerade as her now or later on?"

The one who had caught me asked who the second daughter was, I told him she was a one eyed troll with bite marks on her hands from me, and that if they didn't let me through I would bite, hit and kick everyone of them in places that would be very sore in the morning. They moved out of my way, believing what I had told them due to the madness and the anger in my eyes and the fact that I hit as many of them as I could before leaving.

So… I ran from them, as fast as I could, just to get away from their laughing, knowing faces, biting my lip to stop myself from crying worthless tears for them. But still he followed me, his long legs eating up the ground far quicker than me, why he did so I do not know, I knew not then and most certainly I know not now, maybe he regretted the way he had teased me with his brothers, maybe he had seen my past in my eyes and wanted to make sure I was alright, maybe he wanted to continue tormenting, I do not know, what really happened though, I think neither of us had imagined. When he caught up with me, I walked on, ignoring him, hoping he would either vanish, or being so horrendously tall, hit his head on a tree branch and kill himself. Until finally I spoke,

"I do not want to marry you, I hate you and I do not ever want to be married."

"You think I want to marry a dirty, ugly little cat that slaps me and threatens to bite me? You do not look a thing like Princess, why would I want to marry you? Besides that, why do you not want to marry me? Many girls and women wish to marry me." I snorted in a very un-ladylike and un-Princess-like way. His tone was incredulous, and disbelieving, somebody did not want to marry Zeus' gift to the women population! What must be wrong with me?

"You deserved the slap, you made fun of me, and anyway, you would think twice about marriage if you were me, you would get my father's county out of the marriage, what would I get? A life of misery and drudgery, exactly what I have know." That last remark made him think, and if it was possible, he looked a little less cocky and arrogant.

"How old are you wildcat?"

"I," I said proudly, "Am thirteen."

"Well… I am fifteen, so do not worry about it, we have years before me are to be wed, they cannot marry children together anyway."

"They could and would if they wanted to do so," I reminded him, 'but I do not want to get married to you anyway, I do not want to marry anyone, and I still do not believe you."

I continued walking, my nose stuck in the air and my posture ram-rod straight and proud, and ignoring him until I tripped on tree root and would have fallen flat on my face in an ungainly pile if he had not caught me before I fell with strong, steady hands, but then the time came when he should have let go of my shoulders and instead he grabbed me, and pushed my face up so that I had to look at him look at his black eyes somehow filled with both everything and nothing. Whatever he saw in my eyes it must have been something he had never seen before, for then he did something completely unexpected, he pulled me towards him and kissed me.

Reader, I cannot possibly tell you what I felt when he kissed me, all I can do is beg your forgiveness for sounding so wet and girlish and remind you that I was only thirteen… experiencing my first kiss. My mind went blank and I am certain that for the small amount of time we were together, neither of us thought about anything other than what we were doing at that moment. Was it then when I heard the swish of a bow string and the thud as the arrow hit me, right on target, in the very place I had been trying so hard to blockade from the world? I know not, and just let me say that, well… even if I did that is something I would never tell anyone at all, even you my readers!

Sadly those feelings did not stay with me for long, I was soon brought back to reality with a bang when I realised what I was doing and who with, I pulled away from him with more than a few regrets, looked up and evidently he too, from the dangerous looking grey and glare of his eyes, was having second thoughts, I pushed him away from me, and ran as hard and as fast as I possibly could.

He did not follow me this time and I do not know how to express the feelings I felt at that, only a large part of me wished never to see the hateful boy again, while the other, tiny, insignificant bit wanted him to run after and find me and take me away from this life where I was nothing and show me a new life where I would be some one and some thing, as I said, I used to be so naïve and innocent in my youth. I climbed the wall over our garden and saw Aphrodite, sitting there, as if she was waiting for me as usual, looking perfect, as usual, not a hair out of place or even a slight ripple through her clothing that hinted at the strong wind that was bullying trees, flicking the grass, and wanted to blow me over.

"Nestra, why I do believe, after all the times you've told me that you will never fall in love, that my son has got you at last. So tell me about him, how do you feel?"

Aphrodite thought that my name was ridiculous and called me Nestra, I liked it a good deal more than Hypermnestra. She never stopped believing that for everyone there was some one who was perfect for them and all she wanted was to convert me to that thinking and she had tried so many times to do just that.

"Him," I snorted, "He is missing his head and even if he had one at all he is deluded and crazy, all I feel for him is pity, and he thinks that I am going to marry him! I am not going to marry anyone ever! Aphrodite forget about your son hitting me with an arrow of love, he may have just killed me with an arrow of hate."

"You will marry him, not only have you been betrothed since your birth but it is written in your destiny, all of your sisters are betrothed to his brothers, in a bid to make peace between your father and his brother. It is a fool's idea, and obviously it was conceived by men, it will take more than marriage to make enemies friends. Tell me what he did to annoy you so much."

I ranted on for a moment about how unfair it was, I must have bored the poor Goddess to the point of slumber, but she showed no signs of boredom, in fact she was listening with interest, I think that meddling in other people's love life enjoyed her as much as it pleased that foolhardy son of hers.

"Nestra… child, listen to me for a moment, there will come a time in your life when your fate will be divided, and there will be two paths upon which you could walk on. Remember this, that although you have had a hard life for one so young, if you choose the wrong path to make this life easier for yourself, you will have a much worse afterlife. Remember this, and make the right decision.

I will say goodbye to you now, I just cannot watch as you go through with your life, for I have seen all of the horrible possibilities, all of your possible futures, all of them predict a hard life for you to live, and I cannot… stand by you and watch as you live through hell, I just cannot do that, I am not strong enough. We will meet again Nestra, I promise, and some time in your life, if you chose the right path, I know you will have happiness."

Her beautiful face morphed into an expression that shown her sadness and true feelings, torn in two at leaving me here alone, she could not sit by and watch me hurt, yet she did not want to leave me to face this alone. She did not, after all leave me alone, but that is telling and I am afraid that if you wish to understand why she did not, you will have to read on.

She said this and vanished into the beckoning night that was fighting with the day for domination, the darkness won after all, but what did it matter? She never came to talk to me again after this for many years... I missed her presence greatly.


	3. Visions of Eternal Hell

_"My only love sprung from my only hate!_

_Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" _

--From _Romeo and Juliet _(I, v, 140-141) By _William Shakespeare_

I climbed the tree next to my bedroom and my feet touched the warmth of the stone balcony in front of my bedroom window, heated by the hot sun during the day. I thought about the day, so many firsts for me. The first time that I saw my cousins; the first time and not certainly the last that I sparred with Lynceus. The first time I was mocked and brought down to size by him as well; the first time that I saw through one of my father's many lies, for although Aegyptus' sons were arrogant and rude, they were far from being the devil incarnate. The first time I kissed Lynceus, and may I be so bold as to say that it was not to be the last time, far from it! But it was also the first time my sleep was disturbed by visions the Gods had cursed me with.

Honestly, do you not think that the Gods had not cursed my waking life enough, what with my father, stepmother, her children, and that awful boy I seemed to be betrothed to, that they felt it necessary to disturb my only chance of peace with visions of eternal punishment, my own death, other people's death, and the destruction and ruination of my country? Although in the beginning it was not a regular nightly occurrence thankfully, it was another thing altogether towards the end though.

I lay in my bed, thinking of all that Aphrodite had said to me, trying my hardest to puzzle it out, and, I am very ashamed to tell you that yes, I did happen to _occasionally_ think of Lynceus while doing that, but could you honestly blame me, the boy gave me my first kiss, I had slapped him and he had told me that we were to be married, did you expect me not to think of him. Those boys had ruined my special place, the place that no one but myself knew about, the place where I would go and find peace for however long or short the time. Now that place was tainted by the memories of those boys, teasing, taunting and intimidating me, and also by memories of that kiss. I fell to a deep sleep, rather earlier than I had expected to, and before you ask; no I was not quite as vulgar and common at that age to dream of Lynceus.

_Everything was dark, and I was cold and hungry. It mattered not what I was feeling, regret, fierce regret and sorrow, and the pain of my heart breaking, pain so fierce that it was all I could do not to cry out, for I was doomed to this life for all of eternity. For some reason my only chance of happiness was gone, why did I feel such despair?_

_My sisters knelt besides me, united in Death as we had never been in life, unified in our one goal, but alas, we could never fully complete the task, for we had been tricked, our jugs were filled with holes, making it impossible for us to fill them with the deadly water of the river of death. Our task impossible, cursed for eternity, what could we do but continue and hope every day that we might somehow fill just one of the many jars with the water of Death, because without hope, there was nothing. _

_We worked together, my actions mirrored theirs, our backs aching, moving simultaneously as though we had but one body, one broken and battered soul, and my own body screaming out for a rest, for absolution, but I knew that redemption would never come, forgiveness was a thing of mercy and pity, and here, in this God forsaken place in Death there was no such thing as mercy, no pity, no life, nothing but emptiness and nothing, and that rest was forbidden as well as everything except work, except pain, except sorrow, except so many regrets._

I woke up terrified and screaming at the top of my voice until screams turned to a hoarse croak and hoarse croak turned to silent whispers, eyes scrunched together tightly, convinced that I was still in my nightmare, what on Zeus' sweet earth had I done to deserve a punishment such as that? I continued to scream and successfully managed to wake up the whole house, this was still in the time when I had lived in the main building, it was not until I was around fifteen that I was moved to new rooms, there was no more space, what with Danaus having forty-nine other daughters, and me being unwanted and a nuisance was thrown out first and given a building remote and far away to live in. I must have looked a fright then, screaming and scared, for my stepmother only berated me once for waking them up, and then took me to the kitchen and got me a glass of water.

I had a mild fever and could not talk for an hour without babbling on about nonsense, water and jugs with holes in. The physician who lived with us and occupied the bottom set of rooms was called for immediately in the fear that I had an illness or curse that I would pass on to my sisters, but I am sure my step-mother thought I had only gone mad, she had expected me to do so for years.

He arrived and told them that I was fine and then left to return to his bottle of alcohol. I never told anyone about the visions, I was already classed as an outcast for my appearance and behaviour, and I did not want to be branded a raving lunatic that nobody believed as well.

Instead, I was tucked back up in bed, and told severely not to make so much noise next time I had a nightmare, I had disturbed my darling little sisters' sleep, and I would probably give them nightmares too, give them nightmares! They were living nightmares, sent by the Gods to plague my life and twist it into a permanent hell!

I would not sleep again for two weeks for fear of inviting more visions; instead, as soon as I could I slipped out of my bedroom and lay on the tree next to it. Dangling off a tree branch, tempting The Fates to simply make me fall and end my life, my suffering.

I cursed the Gods in as loud a voice as I could dare, I cursed my life and my family, and I was determined to insult them so much that they would just simply have to strike me down dead with a thunderbolt. I told them that I would not be missed or mourned, and there was no reason to keep me here… in this world that hated me.

"But," Said a soft but strong voice next to my ear, "Everyone has a purpose and place in life; perhaps you have just not discovered yours yet."

I turned and saw Artemis, the beautiful Goddess of the moon, serene and peaceful. Her face was unaltered by time, and I think that even if she had been mortal it would have remained that way, not a line or wrinkled marred her face, I put that down to her calm, tranquil nature. She had pale skin like the stars and long, midnight black hair, her eyes sparkled twilight blue; she was slim and tall and as for her smile, well, all of the sun and stars could not have as much light as her smile did, it shone with life and happiness.

Even though I was completely loyal to Aphrodite and still am now, I hold a great fondness for Artemis, and believe her to be the most beautiful of all Olympian Goddesses. Her quietness and soothing nature was a direct match to my stubborn loudness and blunt ways. We got along well considering that we were opposites, she became the sister I never had, my self-appointed guardian, and I would often ask her advice and received great wisdom in return. I never asked her whether she had just happened to find me that night or whether Aphrodite had asked her to look after me, she never told me and besides, some things are better left unsaid, while other simply never need be said amongst friends.

While I could never be certain when she was waiting for me, outside in the tree, looking up at the night sky, I always found her there, ready to comfort me after one of my visions.

Alas, I could not stay a child for much longer if I had ever been one in the first place, and so the years passed me by and I spent less and less time outside, now that I was approaching adulthood I was expected to be introduced into society, and to start socialising more. So, I spent many long boring hours, where the time goes as slowly as possible just to annoy you, with the most annoying and brain-lacking people I have ever had the misfortune to meet, most of the time I daydreamed about the many ways that I could annoy, embarrass or provoke my half-sisters.

I made no close friends, only those that are called 'fair weather friends,' and I became sort of a society 'fool' or 'jester,' my acid wit and sharp tongue was the cause of many a person's laughter, and also a cause of quite a few people's wrath. But still, I was often praised for my brains and many people said, whether with amusement or bitterness, 'the lady's tongue is as sharp as her wit.' I appreciated those compliments more than if they had praised my looks or written poems of love on my radiance. Such compliments never came my way, and I never missed their passing… they would have been wasted on me anyway.

I am not going to flatter myself unnecessarily and lie to you and tell you that I changed from a sharp girl that was nothing special to look at into a beautiful graceful girl that won the hearts of everyone she met with her sweetness and kindness. That sort of thing only happens in fairy tales, and nothing like the gigantic sort of miracle that would have changed me into such a girl ever graced me with an appearance. After all, what sort of untamed wildcat would I be, my faithful readers, if I changed from the girl who spoke her mind and slapped insolent boys, who coincidently deserved slapping, into a girl who was gentle and suddenly unable to say boo to a goose? I wouldn't have had it any other way, and… I hope neither would've you, swallow and butterflies are all very well, but in the life I had to lead, being wild and fierce was the only way to survive.

Instead I changed from a stick-thin girl to a woman who was taller than her father, and I admit that I did love it in a harmlessly evil way when he glared at me as he craned his neck in a desperate attempt to become taller. I became a tall woman with a few curves that were a direct and obvious contrast to my more voluptuous younger sisters. My treasured cropped hair was forced to grow into a long tangled mass of curls that was my responsibility to tame even though I hated it and never wanted it long in the first place. In all, I changed little from a girl to a woman. I neither wanted nor liked my new self and I often felt that I was a stranger in my body, it took a long time to get used to the new me, and I spent many days wishing that I had stayed a forgotten little girl. The new person that I had become just made me stand out more and more, when I would have preferred to slip quietly into the background… back into my own world where nobody cared whether I was blond or brown, clever or stupid… where I was admired, wanted and loved.


	4. Thus We Meet Again

_"My only love sprung from my only hate!_

_Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" _

--From _Romeo and Juliet _(I, v, 140-141) By _William Shakespeare_

I have already told you that I grew up, and was tentatively introduced into society in case I said or did something to embarrass my family or something that would reflect badly on my sisters. They were more rapidly introduced, and most of them were already coming out with me by the time I was sixteen.

When I was young, how I had wanted to go to parties with my father and stepmother like my younger sisters, I used to sit in the window, gazing out at the night which always seemed magical to me, watching as my half-sisters would dance about, dressed in such lovely clothes and then they would be transported to places I had never been.

My home, up until I turned fifteen, was a towering palace, hundreds of rooms we had, and not even half of those filled, I loved to explore about my palace, to wander into rooms, to hide in wardrobes and surprise the first person who opened it. My palace reached up into the sky and for a while whilst I was still young, still innocent, it was my whole world for me, my moon, my sun and my stars. But then when I grew more stubborn, more unruly and more annoying and different, I was thrown out and sought out a new sanctuary. My favourite place to go to was lovely, and aside from that annoying irritating and completely in-love-with-himself boy, relatively unknown, for very few people went out in the deserts unless necessary, and whenever I did, I took water and food with me.

How can I describe the peace, the tranquillity of trudging along through sands that took a hold on my legs and made walking hard and a weary sport, then to look up and see that little spot of green on the horizon, my light through the tunnel, my peace of beauty. Approaching it, to look down, you could see the gradual changes, the small green weeds that would grow anywhere and everywhere, growing bigger and greener as you came closer and closer to my haven. Then you finally entered it, brushing aside thick tangles and bushes and branches, to see the water shining in a long river, possibly a smaller sister of the Nile.

You should have seen our lands as they were then, a beautiful area next to the Nile, farms and villages prospered for the most in the beginning, before madness, greed, envy and hate turned his mind. How I long for you to have seen our house as it was, ready for parties and balls, lights in all of the windows, blazing out to the world that we were celebrating. How many times did I peep around the skirts of servants to catch and steal a glimpse of the people dancing and enjoying themselves, how I wished that I could join them! That was until the servants realised that I was there and hurried me away, back to my room, which was lonely and cold after the brightness of downstairs. My half-sisters shared their rooms; I was left, on the other side of the house, all alone.

Continuing with my description of society and balls, my half sisters, being both stupid and beautiful, much desired characteristics in wives, were immediately surrounded by men as soon as it was politely acceptable by society's so-called 'rules' on proper behaviour.

When some of the poorer, less handsome or less easily charmed men were thrown out of their circle of prospective 'suitors' they flocked to me. Being neither beautiful nor stupid, men simply did not vie for my attentions the way they did my sisters, but most of those men who found themselves without my sister's favour quickly came running to me, thinking that if they annoyed me or bored me half to death then I would be unable to resist them and then would fall at their feet deep in slumber, the majority were not daft enough to sing songs on my beauty or grace or gentle personality, the minority were soon… dissuaded from doing so. Most saw me as an enigma, as I scorned them, and so, rather than discouraging them as I had hoped, they simply redoubled their efforts. Which God made men like that? I would love to give who ever it was a tough piece of my mind to chew on and possibly choke and die on.

Some of them I could tolerate, the ones that talked to me as if I were actually a person rather than a piece of mindless, brain-lacking property when really I was an intelligent woman who knew her own mind a lot better than a great deal of men, the ones that saw that I was clever and told me things that otherwise I would not have been told.

They never knew the real me, she was a girl never shown to anyone except my immortal friends. For if anyone knew my likes, my dislikes and got beneath the hard frozen mask I wore constantly then they would be able to hurt me or manipulate me. That was something, being a Princess, and a mortal without friends, that I could just not allow. It was tiresome always being someone different, just as tiresome being nicknamed the Ice Princess, as if anyone here in my dry, hot lands actually knew what ice was! I knew from my tutors telling me, at first I had not believed it, I mean, solid water! But I greatly doubt that anyone else who came to these parties did.

A few I almost liked, most were extremely distantly related to me through my mother's side, and one to my utter amazement and astonishment, one even claimed to my face, proving his bravery, to have an 'eternal love for me that could never on this earth be extinguished, not even by Zeus himself.' That was a complete shovel of lies on his part, for it took neither the great God Zeus nor a pitcher of water to extinguish his undying flame of love, but one very annoying God of Pig-headedness and arrogance, Lynceus.

The day I will tell you about was an ordinary day, maybe a few months after my sixteenth birthday. I had spent all day getting ready for a party, as was customary for a lady. I bathed, washed my hair, which needed such a long time to wash and dry being a long tangled mess, chose my clothes and spent the rest of the day sitting on my own pretending to be busy. As always, boring, useless and time-wasting activities.

Now, what is important is that aside from a few nights ago, at another party, I had not seen Lynceus at all, except for a few glimpses a year, where he did not see me, chose to ignore me, or simply did not recognise me.

But at this party a few nights ago, not only did he see me, recognise me, or chose to suddenly acknowledge me, he saw me at my worst. I was at that time surrounded by a great gang of boys that were being utter drunken fools, and not only was I making fun of their awful jokes, but they had linked their hands together and were skipping around me who was in the centre of the circle, yelling, 'ICE PRINCESS'. But I was trying to get away from them and failing badly. I was trying to signal to few of them that I considered the most sensible, that says a great deal about the others if I considered a few drunken boys to be sensible, that I wanted to get away and that would they please move so I could leave the party, I also may have said some thing along the lines of 'I think that none of you will be the ones to melt me into a puddle on the floor so please move before you freeze my icy heart any more, you have to know that a mortal man cannot do the impossible.' But he saw me talking to them, completely misunderstood the situation, I honestly think that he thought that I was actually encouraging them, and in the end he looked like he could not decide who to strangle first, me, Alexander, or the rest of the half-witted idiots vying for my attention. I gained a very petty pleasure at seeing him thunderstruck and jealous, a very small petty pleasure, after all, nothing I had said was untrue, at that time I had believed that it would be impossible for some one to melt my heart, little did I know that it would one day happen.

As it was he left the party looking like a murderous madman. I could and did blame him for thinking what he did, after all, why did he have the right to judge me? Why did he think that I should be in any way similar to my sisters? Surely he should have thought better of me, and in any case, it was him, and not me who was constantly surrounded by woman who walked around half-naked, clinging to his arms. It was also him and not me that constantly welcomed them to cling onto his arms. I neither wanted nor encouraged my followers, he was guilty through his own actions of both.

So, back to night I am telling you about, I was preparing to be on my best behaviour and try to tolerate them rather than ridicule them for once when I got to the party and was alone, not one of them came within an arms length near me. You do not understand how delightful silence is to those who have known so little of it.

Immediately suspicious, I marched straight up to my little band of avid admirers and ignored the way most of them impolitely tried to get out of my presence. I did not at all miss my faithful followers, fear not, I was rather more concerned with whether my sisters had been spreading rumours about me again, and that it was a rumour that I never washed or something along those lines that made me so abhorrent to them, I wanted to know because I needed an excuse to perform my latest prank on them and them spreading a rumour would be the perfect justification.

I demanded to know why his so-called 'love' had so suddenly vanished. They stuttered, tried to change the subject, and then spent a half-hour telling me how most of them had been accosted by a violent mad-man claiming to be my betrothed. He had been jealous and unforgiving with violent black eyes that had turned to grey. A man who had threatened to kill him and all the rest if they continued to follow me, admire me and technically make fools of themselves. Since that was all they did, they no longer had a reason to woo me, and so stopped the so-called 'wooing.'

I was so mad; I stormed out of the room, left the party before it was polite to do so, offended the party thrower and began to hunt down Lynceus. This was not as easy as it had seemed to be in the beginning. Believe me if it had been anyone else I would not have been as mad, as it was Lynceus trying to rule my life, I was furious, no, a better word readers is incensed. The reason I was mad was simply because it was Lynceus, before you ask whether I was pleased that he was obviously jealous or paying attention to me, well… not pleased, but readers never tell anyone this, I was satisfied in a strange way, maybe I was a little smug.

I first went straight to his brothers who were more easily found, and demanded to know where on Zeus' Earth he was. The ones that saw me just as a woman mocked me and made ribald jokes at my expense, they refused to tell me where he was; when I acted like the Princess I was and ignored them, they took it as encouragement and I am a little afraid that I had to give just a little hint that they should stop it, really, his brothers are such milk-sops, one would think a few broken noses really hurt from their crying! The others asked my name and then refused to tell me. He probably knew that I would try and kill him and so went into hiding to try and avoid me and my wrath. I tried many disguises as a woman but got nowhere, although I did find out that there was a party happening, many people were invited to it the people invited were all men; and that he would definitely be there, as it was thrown in his honour.

I had spent three weeks getting nowhere as a woman, so if all I had to do was become a man, that was exactly what I would do. Never mind the fact that it was virtually impossible, I would find a way to make it possible, the world would bent in order to obey my command.

The clothing was a minor problem as most men of my country prefer to go around topless, or half naked, which makes it awkward for a true lady to talk to them. But there were many odd foreigners that had moved to our country, whose clothing was as bizarre as their vengeful God that they constantly talked about. They covered themselves up in a white robe, and some wore white cloth wrapped around their heads, covering their hair. By all the Gods and Goddesses on Mount Olympus how I hated my hair! But dressing as one of those people solved my clothing problems and it took care of my loathed hair.

So, I pilfered a white robe out of our servant's laundry, gained a white sheet, and dressed up. I loved it, it had been a long time since I had had an adventure, since I had snuck out of my house and just vanished for a day… and that, my dear readers, was exactly what I did. Never mind the fact that masquerading as some one else and playing dress-up had been my favourite childhood game for it required no one else but me in order to play.

Walking to the end of my balcony and slipping out down the tree, I ran to the house where the party was being held, it was not Lynceus' house, but one of his friend's and so was not too long a distance from my own house. I slipped in unnoticed, no one saw a weak woman who stood out like a sore thumb, only a man. To avoid people speaking to me, I punctured every conversation with sentences on a blistering tirade about the might and wrath of my God, and how he is an unforgiving, stern God, for desert I topped it all off with a large preach on the punishment of lechery, greed and selfishness. I was not surprised that no body talked to me after that poor terrified man who had received my tirade burst into tears and promised never to visit his mistress again and to pay more attention to his wife and children.

I thought then in my arrogance that he had not noticed me, but I realise now that he have been observing me all though dinner.

I was surprised then when he walked right up to me and grabbed me by the shoulder and rudely pushed me into a room that was lined with bottle of alcohol, and was dark, dingy and lit only by a small candle.

"You do realise this was meant to be a men's party, no women allowed." Lynceus told me.

He turned around, got a glass, filled it to the brim with liquid and drank it all.

"I have not the slightest idea of what you are talking about."

Gentle ladies do not drink alcohol, but I am not a gentle lady in fact one would be hard-pressed to call me a lady at all, I picked up the bottle and drank from it without the aid of a glass. He watched with a new interest; then faced me with a smirk, he knew who I was.

"Lady, if you are a man, then I am a bashful maiden."

I snorted in a most unladylike fashion.

"Since I know you by experience not to be bashful and by rumour not to be anything like a maiden then I guess that I could not possibly be a man."

I came into the light and unwound the sheet on my head. I felt my hair as it fell back heavily past my shoulders and dared him to recognise me.


	5. Painful Rememberance

_"My only love sprung from my only hate!_

_Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" _

--From _Romeo and Juliet _(I, v, 140-141) By _William Shakespeare_

I watched the sheet as it fell to the ground and stood up straight and proud like the Princess I was and the Queen I was determined to become. I may have burst uninvited into a private men-only party, I may have the misfortune of being a woman, I may have been his father's enemy's daughter, I may have been his betrothed, I may have just given more than one blistering tirade on the result of sin, lechery and an imaginary God, but I sure as Zeus was not and was never going to be ashamed of what I was or what I had done, except for the part where I had kissed him, now that was a completely different story of course…

I looked him straight in the eye and dared him to recognise me. Then cursed him under my breath, despite my gangly height he was still taller than me! I still had to look up to send him venomous looks, curses… how tall did a girl have to grow simply to be taller than the man she wanted to intimidate?

… Well, he did recognise me, I was sure of it. I stood there defiant as he remembered me with an inappropriate gaze at my body. If he had not remembered me, I would have made him remember, firstly by slapping him again, just to refresh his memory, and if that had not worked I would have subjected him to torture. He was very lucky that he said my name, I really do not know what sorts of unladylike things he may have forced me to do otherwise.

"Nestra… well, you have grown up."

He stressed the 'have,' as if the last time he had seen me I had been a child, which I had been, but that was beside the point, I really detested him so much, the arrogant, insolent… wretched boy…

"As have you, my ever polite, respectful, obedient betrothed." I was purposefully sarcastic and rude.

"What do you want?" He was suspicious of my sweet, sugary tone now.

"I want you to stop threatening my circle, a few of them were really annoying, but some of them were… well… they were my friends… sort of… I have no others, and you have just scared them all away you stupid, arrogant block of wood. What gives you the right to rule my life?"

"What did you just call me?" He looked horrified that I had just called him that, as if I worried about what he thought, as if I would not dare call him names, exactly who did he think that he was talking to? Did he thinking he was talking to one of my half-sister, a foolish girl who was so dim she could not get dressed without help?

Well… I suppose that some one might have been intimidated by his tone, but after all I was not just anyone, I was his ever loving, quiet and tranquil love, therefore I had a special right to talk back to him and be rude to him.

"A stupid arrogant block of wood that, by the way, happens to be a pig-headed mortal without a kind, respectful, polite thought in his tiny mind. Why do you want to control my life, it is mine not yours to live." From the look in his eyes he was debating whether to be amused or annoyed and insulted, I seriously doubt whether anyone had ever called him names or ever made a joke at his expense, he took himself way too seriously and thought a good deal too much of himself.

"You are this mad because I got rid of a few bird brained besotted boys? They were annoying me." Well… they had been annoying me too but that was beside the point.

"I want to know why you did that, and what exactly you are going to do to rectify the damage that you have caused."

"I will not do anything to put those idiots back into contact with you."

"I want to know why."

"Because you are mine." He looked down a little sheepishly at the floor, "I was jealous."

"Because I am yours?" All ideas of peaceful co-operation went out of my brain, and I saw red, I did not think about whether he had been jealous or not or that in the time in which I lived in, women were men's property. Now, maybe he did need reminding of who exactly I am. I did not take the time to ask him whether he needed help in reminding, I just acted, ignoring the look the floor was receiving from him.

"Let me get this straight, you did that because I am supposed to be yours, a piece of your property."

He nodded, maybe he would have said something different like, 'not a piece of property but still something that I own,' but I did not give him the chance and just acted. With a very satisfying thud, my fist and his perfect straight nose connected. Sad to say that afterwards, his nose was no longer straight and perfect. My hand was rather sore afterwards as well, but it was a very satisfying sore, the one that you get from hitting people you dislike.

"Why did you do that to me?" He roared rather than spoke the words at me his eyes turned a violent grey, rather than the solid black they had been before, and even though I was not scared of him, some thing in the way he acted spoke to me of how my father acted when he was drunk, when he would just lash out and not care who he hit. It was never me, not since I had grown taller than him, though he had hit me before when I was smaller, but I had been taller than him for a long time, more often than not he hit my step-mother. I shrank back and went a considerable distance away from him, just in case, and looked at his warily. Obviously, doing that was like throwing a cold bucket of water over his head, his eyes turned back to black and his anger subsided.

"Ness, I am not going to hit you, I have never hit a woman in my life, now stop that and come here and tell me why you hit me, it really hurts Nessie." His bottomless eyes gleamed a wicked black; he knew full well that calling me that would annoy me… curse him… wretched man.

I came forward a little bit. The man was such a big baby, my hand hurt but I was I complaining, and what did he just call me, did he think I was a little child or goat with a name like that? I could handle Nestra, but Ness or Nessie?

"My name is Hypermnestra, not Ness or Nessie, that name is for pet mountain goats, not me, and Nestra is a name reserved only for close friends not men who think that they own and control me. As for the nose, you deserved it. You took away people that I associate with, for the simple reason that I am yours, well, if I am yours, then that means that you are mine, therefore I can hit you when you become annoying and irritating in order to discipline you."

I turned around and went towards the door and he grabbed me, or rather he grabbed my arm.

"Now, you owe me a favour, in fact more than one, you burst into my party dressed as a man, you disrupt my party with your tirades on the vengeance of a heathen God that probably does not even exist and is more than likely the result of your extensive imagination. You then hit me, and possibly break my nose. Now unless you want me to tell your father of what you have been doing, you owe me a favour."

"What do you want me to do for you?" Really, I detested the man. But I would be punished for what I had done if my father found out.

"You sing do you not?"

My voice was my pride and joy. Instead of outward beauty I had a voice blessed by Apollo himself; do not doubt my words, for I was blessed by him personally when I was a young girl, I saw him myself and thanked him. I loved to sing, though no one but the immortals, the sky, the trees and the speechless animals know such a thing for I sang alone, up in a tree or on a patch of grass, totally alone.

"Yes, but how do you know such a thing?"

"Our meeting all those years ago was not the first time I had seen you, it was only the first time I recognised you for who you were. Now, you will come to my father's house and sing for him, three times a week for a month, he appreciates music, in return I will tell no one what you have done this night."

While I digested that rather worrying piece of information about the many times he may or may not have seen me and wondering why he had noticed me at all and why I could not remember seeing him, I had been and still was a thin ugly girl who did not warrant attention, I climbed trees and sat up there alone quietly or talking to Gods who came to keep me company. I wondered whether agreeing to this bargain was the right thing to do, he released my arms from his vicious grip.

"Now… sing for me."

I could have told him that I would not, but I did not. I opened my month and sang. I had my revenge though, I sang a song that the men sang when drunk. A cursed lover's tale that told of a young girl, innocent and free who defied her father when he forbade her to marry a man she loved, escaping into the night with him they lived together as man and wife for months even though no such ceremony had been performed for them, eventually, finding her husband in a compromising situation with another lady she killed her him in a rage of jealousy as well as her rival for the man's attentions. It was a story often told to me to warn me against being too disobedient and wilful for in the end the girl was killed for disobeying her father. The Fates torment me, how ironic is this tale and the fact that I sang it to Lynceus, how well would it foretell our future and curse me… how I hate destiny! How I hate ironies of any kind! How I hated my own destiny!

His face told of surprised pleasure when I finished singing and stood quietly in front of him for a change. The look in his eyes sent a shiver down my spine as he stood there, watching me, assessing me, had I been more worldly and more experienced in the ways of men I would have recognised the look in his black eyes as possession, as it was, I knew not how to identify it, only knowing it as something that alarmed me no end.

"Can you stop looking at me like that please?" I spoke quietly, the time for screaming and fighting had passed, "Or I will tear out your eyes." Then again, maybe not.

"Surprising, is it not, that a girl with the appearance of a plain sparrow has the voice of a beautiful nightingale? But then again ... I have never found you plain, quite the opposite if you really want to know." He paused for a moment, looking at me with amusement as if he was trying hard not to laugh. "Why do they call you 'Ice Princess? Which of them thought it up, I suppose it is rather… suitable for you…"

"Because…" I began as if reciting from a book, when I was repeating the reason the silly boys had given me. "I have a heart that can never be melted by any human man, a soul made of iron and steel that will never yield or bend, a tongue as sharp as the blade on a warrior's dagger, and I do suppose that I am a Princess in my own right and they blamed all of those faults on the simply reason that I am of royal blood, fools that they are."

"What is the reason then Ness?"

I hit him on his arm and he backed a distance away from me in case I did it again, "There is no reason except for the simple fact that I am a woman with a past." I added silently after that to myself, and I am also a woman who knows her own future and if that is not enough to harden a girl than I know not what else is.

"A woman in my past and also in my future." Eerily he almost echoed the words that I had thought to myself, that was something that I did not like at all, and in all honesty, I did not at all like the way this conversation was going nor did I like the way his face looked almost shy and boyish, I decided to leave, but not before I had gotten one thing clear, and of course had the last words and proved myself the superior of us two, I turned to him,

"I am not a possession to be bartered, sold or owned. I am a person in my own right and mind, I have my own destiny, my own thoughts and feelings and a right to my own life. Is that clear, I want you to stop threatening those men, by your own standards they did nothing wrong. I am not and will never be yours; I am mine and always will be. Beside you know as well as I do that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it's mistakes in the future."

He scowled at me, "What is that meant to mean?" Was the man ill-witted or simply a fool, what did he think it meant, it was a warning to him and a threat. I would not be as complacent as my step-mother and I was not a girl with milk instead of blood through her veins, I would fight, argue and force my way through life dependent on no one and the sooner he accepted that fact the better life would be for both of us.

"Exactly what I said, my father cares little for women seeing them as possessions, as things to be sold and bought. If you see things the same way as him, then I am afraid if we ever truly have to marry, then our relationship will be as bad as my father's was with my mother and is now with my step-mother. Think on that a little, will you? Remember for always that I will never be anyone's except my own person." He thought quietly, his head to one side, watching me.

I picked up the sheet from the floor, wound it round my head and left the room, with dignity and grace, the way I usually conducted myself, but not before hearing his whisper, telling him that I should not be so sure that I would never be his, in the end he had had the last word, curses! I blended back into the party quietly and quickly. Just as peacefully, I left the party and slipped back home to think about the night, only to dream of wicked black eyes and some one calling me Nessie.

… Curse the man! Curse the Gods and their traitorous dreams! Curses…


	6. Lynceus' Gift

_"My only love sprung from my only hate!_

_Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" _

--From _Romeo and Juliet _(I, v, 140-141) By _William Shakespeare_

My dreams betrayed me with images of Lynceus, so what could I do but talk and try to rid myself of images such as those? The morning after I found Artemis waiting for me as usual in the tree; peering up at the vanishing night sky; heralding the coming of a pale pink dawn. I climbed out my window into the tree with a vitality normally denied me at this ungodly time of night, or rather day, be it was still too early to be awake.

I was not accustomed to the feelings that I was now experiencing, for I had never had a reason to feel nervous or excited, but now, the day brought with it a reminder of the promise made between us. It also brought a blush to my cheeks and a small smile when I thought of the praise of my voice and other… more vain reasons concerning my appearance.

I was hastily babbling and gesturing wildly on to the patient Goddess when I realised that as a Goddess she would already know the story I was telling her. I looked up and saw her smiling face with its satisfied smile and knew she probably knew about all the things that I had left out in my own, rather altered version of last night.

Being an immortal and besides that very perceptive to my volatile emotions, she probably knew everything I felt, and the reasons why I smiled and my eyes sparkled that morning. Oh well… as long as _he_ did not know the reason for my smile I was alright… certain people did not need their heads enlarged even more with ideas of their own self-importance.

Seeing her smile I then sighed and told her everything, all that I had not even acknowledged to myself. It was nice, very peaceful, to sit in that old tree, watching the sun rise, talking about all that I had done. I grinned as she systematically gasped in horror like the good audience and listener she was when I told her all about my escapade into a man's party dressed in my father's clothes. I felt like I had a sister for once, for although there were many differences separating us, sisters bond by fate and love we were if not bond by blood.

Remembering at that point that she was a virgin Goddess, destined that way from her own choice, not fate or her family conspiring against her, I asked her,

"Do you not feel sad or regretful because you will miss out on this sort of companionship with some one who truly loves you? Aphrodite used to forever complain about the wastefulness of your beauty." She laughed with wisdom not given by age or experience, but just with one of many talents she had simply been born with.

"I have all the companionship I need with you Nestra. But being a maiden is my choice and if I found some one that I truly loved I would not let it pass me by. Remember that for yourself later on."

"He said that he has never found me plain." I could not control myself at that point and I lay back on my tree branch hiding the colour in my face and the sparkle in my eyes with my hands, my hair falling forward to help to cover my face.

"Well," She said with a fond smile as she lifted up my face and tried to smooth down my hair and failed miserably, "You are not plain, just not beautiful in a fashionable way. Your eyes sparkle and life blooms in you, there is nothing plain or ordinary about you."

I smiled back at her and returned the compliment. Then I brought about the subject of singing in front of people. I sang on my own with no one listening, never in front of people. What might happen if I went wrong?

With a laugh she pushed out the tree and told me to hurry and that I had not anything to worry about. I ran all the way across fields and green areas to his palace. I had made myself look presentable that morning, my hair tied back so not to get in my face and I wore a new linen dress. Still I did not manage to stay presentable, what with running across sand and fields and other things, with my pouches filled with water banging against my leg as I ran and weighing me down even more. No… I was not meant to stay neat and tidy; it simply was not in my nature and was frankly and obviously not possible!

Still nervous I jumped when my arm was grabbed and I was pulled away. I had been staring at the massive door, wondering what would be worse, to go in and make a fool of myself or to run away and face my father's wrath when he heard about my adventures, he would go mad, a princess running around in men's clothing and drinking alcohol, God's! What sort of changeling was I! Some sort of cuckoo left in nest in place of a more perfect beautiful bird, not to mention that I should have been a boy.

Fortunately I recognised him at once, Proteus, second in-line and in-command to Lynceus, the one who so many years ago had first caught me and declared that he had caught a Danaide.

"You are late and Lynceus told me to tell you to come this way." I followed him in what was not an unkind silence, some things had not changed over the years, and Proteus was one of those things. With a boyish enthusiasm he asked me,

"Was it really you who broke his nose? No one else has ever hurt or beaten him in a fight, how did you? Do you have magical powers? Are you an immortal?"

I laughed and looked at him, "Your brother is much too interested in females and their charms, all that I did was use mine. It is not my fault if your brother needs to guard himself more, otherwise he will find himself with more than just a broken nose. As for being immortal, well, I know many immortals but I am sadly not one of them."

"I will tell him you said that."

He pushed open the door and pulled me through it.

I stood at the front of a room that was filled with hundreds of people. I stood there with them staring at me and I made a decision that if I got out of there without fainting I would kill Lynceus for this, very painfully.

My saviour, a short man, whom I identified as a much hassled and hard working servant, grabbed my hand and fussing and complaining, I was dragged again down, past everyone to the back where there was a small room filled with more than fifty people, all of them eager listeners, all of them looking at me.

At the top of the room sat what I imagined to be Aegyptus, in a corner was Lynceus, who was being fussed over by a physician.

He grinned and winked at me. I gave him a look that was capable of pulverising rock. I was really going to kill him, slowly, painfully, torturing him as much as possible.

I stood there, and watched as he refused to sit still so the physician could treat him. I looked around and saw his brothers, watching me. I turned around again and there, in another corner was Apollo. He was loving all of this, and sat there laughing at me. Even the male Gods were annoying me.

The physician came with a troubled face up to Aegyptus and complained that his son would not sit still for him to treat his nose and if he did not treat poor little Lynceus' nose, then the darling little Prince would have a crooked nose for the rest of his life, what a shame, I was so sad and sorry for what I had done.

I walked up and stood behind the harassed man. My uncle's eyes flicked to mine and I knew he knew who I was. There was no mistaking an uncommonly tall girl, with a golden 'D' around her neck, with her green eyes that were so uncommon in a place where black and brown was rampant, with her face that looked so much like his… like his brother's…

"So," he boomed with a good-natured smile, "You are the one who broke my son's nose. Well, I commend you; he has had that coming to him for a long time, I only wish I could have seen it happen. My good man, do what you have to mend my son's broken nose, you may strap him to a seat if you wish."

"Your son's nose is not broken, he is just exaggerating." The physician's pointed face was annoyed, over-worked and peevish.

"Sir," I said politely to the doctor. As you can see, I can be good and very polite when I wish to be so and when the situation requires it, "If you wish me to make it easier for you, I will gladly hit him again and make sure his nose is properly broken. Gladly I will do it for you Sir."

The poor man gave me an offended look as the whole room burst into laughter. He trotted off to tend to his patient, who was slightly more amiable after receiving a frown from his father.

I looked up and studied Aegyptus. I had expected him to look like my father, being identical twins, but he did not. They were the same height, but my father was fat from drink and over-indulgence, while he was slim, bordering dangerously on being almost too thin. They had the same eyes, but his were kinder and not bloodshot, he had my father's eyes which made me watch him warily for the same traits as my father, but I was to learn that he had none of them. His face was lined with wrinkles that told of his liking to laugh and smile. Danaus never smiled.

"You remind me of your mother… my lady."

"You may call me Nestra, my King." I turned around and glared at Lynceus. "He can call Nestra because he is polite and knows how to treat a lady. You, however, can still call me Hypermnestra or even better not speak to me at all, until you inherit some of your father's charm."

That brought another bout of laughter, even Lynceus joined it.

"You knew my mother sir?" He patted the seat next to him and beckoned at me to sit down, I looked up at him raptly and gestured at him to continue, my father never talked about my mother, I knew next to nothing about her.

"Yes, she was my wife's best friend. You remind me so much of her, she was an extraordinary woman."

Now I have to tell you that Aegyptus had not remarried after his first wife had died. She, like my mother, had died giving birth.

"I always thought I looked like my father, I never knew my mother, can you tell me of her?"

"Your mother was very much like you are now, always kind, a real lady." The kind comment bought a snort off Lynceus, but his father continued nevertheless after glaring at his son. "She had the same sparkle in her eyes as you have in yours, the same life. She was rather small though, and slender, her hair was curly and a little… unruly, like yours, but it was red, not black. Such a pretty girl, with a beautiful nature too."

He told me to sing for him and so I did. How could I refuse such charm? It was then, I think, that I started to love my uncle, love him like a substitute father, he treated me like his daughter, what could I do but love him like a father then?

The sweet but powerful tones of my voice filled the room. I, however was terrified and stood there still as a rock, scared to death, knowing that my fear showed in my voice, and that I sounded not half as good as I would without the terror running through my body.

Apollo frowned at me then chose a different tactic and pulled hideous faces at me. To see the so composed God who was normally the very soul of respectability pull such faces was remarkable to say the least. I laughed and relaxed.

The sounds of a lyre played badly and out of tune made me cringe and Apollo wince. To stop the horrible noise he became visible to all in the room, and caused a great commotion, a God in Aegyptus' house! Either Aegytus was going to be cursed or something wonderful was about to happen. With his hands up in peace he told them that he brought no bad tidings or ill omens. All that he wanted was to listen to me sing without having to listen to the horrendous sound of the poor instrument. He pulled the lyre out of the loving but incompetent hands of Proteus and played it himself. Together we made beautiful music.

People from the big, outer hall came in to hear us together. After what seemed to be hours, I stopped, unable to sing any more. Then I sat down with the rest of them, watching Apollo sit there with a contented smile, and listened to the story-spinners spin their tales of heroes long since dead. The story-spinners used every opportunity to flatter the god, and if he was unable to walk out the room with the size of his inflating ego I would not have been surprised. I sat enthralled besides Aegyptus and listened as he told me what he remembered of my mother where he had first met her, the games and pranks they used to play, for, as I learnt that day, he and my mother and Lynceus' mother had grown up with each other.

I sat there as one of them, nobody questioned me being there, I was teased and tormented like I was their sister, I felt like one of them… part of their family. I caught Lynceus' eye and as he smiled with pleasure and satisfaction, I knew that this was what he had planned from the beginning, and at that moment I liked and respected him, he had given a precious gift that I would remember forever, the gift of a family… even if it had only been for a day.

I could not stay though, and the walk home under the pitch black sky was a lonely one, imagining the frosty welcome that awaited me back home was unbearable.


	7. The World of Love

_"My only love sprung from my only hate!_

_Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" _

--From _Romeo and Juliet _(I, v, 140-141) By _William Shakespeare_

The night stretched in front of me as I trudged back alone. Wishing that I had asked for company to walk me back I sighed.

At the right moment out stepped Artemis, now, I do not believe in coincidences, only fate and destiny, after all, with a life like mine that is build on simple coincidences and choices that all add up to destiny… my destiny how can I? I believed that I was meant to see how a real family acted and now, I was meant to talk to Artemis, there was a reason that I had never before seen her in the dead of night.

She was radiant in a way she never was at dawn. Her dark hair, deep blue eyes sparkling, her fair skin as soft and white as cream and sugar, I was over awed in a way I never usually am, not with Gods or mortals.

"The night loves and wears you well my lady." I felt compelled to say those words and I knew I had done right when I watched her smile modestly. No immortal can ever resist such fair compliments; I should know having grew up with Aphrodite. When I want to be I am quite the honey-tongued flatterer… but as you know I can also be as cutting as a knife.

"You, my mysterious mortal should be glowing, but instead you are glowering at trees, what have they ever done to you to make you hate them so?"

"Not the trees, I was thinking of how my father will take my disappearance of whether he will notice at all. Why was I born with such a family? Why could I have not been born with a family like Lynceus? A family that loves him?"

"I do not know, I cannot change your birth, but maybe I can change your mood, sing with me Nestra. Sing with me of the virtues my sweet but wild minstrel."

"_Virtue has but seven friends,_

_Side by side they roam our land._

_Prudence does thoughtfulness lend,_

_Wisdom, vigilance, discretion to the end._

_Temperance is moderate always,_

_Forever sober and frugal it stays._

_Fairness, rightness, equity_

_Justice does embody all these three._

_In times of trouble does fortitude ring,_

_Then strength, courage, endurance sing._

_Generosity, benevolence, and helpful,_

_Makes charity all the more merciful._

_Where there is hope there will be life,_

_Optimism in times of strife._

_Last is faith but not the least,_

_Trust and loyalty beyond belief. "_

Artemis' sweet and gentle alto complimented my huskier soprano, and while I might say that my voice was stronger and rather like a haunting magic in the ghostly echo of the dark woods, hers was also pleasing to the ear. Our voices soared and flowed like water in the peaceful silence, in total harmony with each other. I told her that, leaving out the obvious self-flattery, even though I was not lying or exaggerating about my own voice if I do say so myself.

She was pleased and told me,

"While I have a sweet voice, but that is all that it is. Our voices are very different, yours is like the golden sun that outshines the reflecting silver moon." She smiled with pleasure at her pun.

We walked together a while, just talking. I told her all about Aegyptus and recited many of the stories that I had learnt from the story-spinners.

Alas, we arrived home too soon. I looked at the chilly darkness and mentally compared it against my will to Lynceus' home when fires burned in the windows, lighting up the house along with Aegyptus' welcoming nature. Nobody, I realised, was bothered that I had been gone all day; nobody was waiting up to shout or argue with at me, to be mad that I had just vanished, nobody was watching out for me at all… nobody cared that I had been gone, nobody cared… at all.

Artemis knew what I was thinking and whispered in my ears, "Do not worry, they are not worth being upset about. You are worth far more than they will ever know." For the normally gentle Goddess to sound so fierce, with her eyes flashing almost black I was rather surprised,

"Do not be angry," I said to her before climbing up the tree, "I have long since stopped caring."

It was a lie and she knew it, but she nodded and vanished out of sight, leaving only her breathless whisper to float to me, _I am always here for you, whenever you need me, my sister._

I fell into a sleep easily that night and awoke well into the afternoon. I dreamt at first of laughter and warmth and life, my new life, but also the new life of children, and then, as an evil and sick twisting of my soft dream, of death and someone crying and pain, of a distant war-stricken land, and civil war in my own land.

_A father, a mother, a son… a father, a mother, a son…_ the words rattled round in my head, but when I woke they vanished and I, not for lack of trying, could not remember them.

Unsure when I woke up whether this was a vision and unwanting to probe further into it in case it was, I lay in bed undecided. If it was a vision what if it was some-one I knew who was to die? Or if it was not, what was wrong with me to have such vicious nightmares?

I leap out of my bedroom and into the tree, jumping down from it straight into Artemis who stood there waiting. Her shocked expression filled my face as I landed onto her.

"Zeus' teeth Nestra, do you have to be so unladylike all the time? Have a care, or one day you will end up getting hurt or even more likely, hurting me."

I smiled at her usual lecture and helped her up.

"What brings you to me my Goddess, past dawn when birds sing and the night is yet a long way away?"

"You, as always Nestra. But partly your dream and my wish to puzzle it with and partly my own need to talk with you."

As usual the Goddess was beautiful, but somehow this morning she looked more human, not as obviously as ethereal as she normally looked. I told her of what the dream was like while we walked to my oasis together and said,

"Well, normally I know whether or not my vision is a nightmare, but I cannot figure this one out, it's like it is a distant thing, something I should not be worried about yet." Saying it made me feel better, but the word 'yet' hung in the air like a bad smell or heady perfume. If not now, when would it happen?

"Well, worry we will not then, if that is what you think. Now I shall concern myself in your love life, as I have none of my own I am bound to interfere in other peoples."

"I do not have a love life because firstly I am not in love with him, secondly if I ever happened to be in love with him he would drive me to insanity with his arrogance and blatant self-worship, and thirdly I am never going to marry him, fourthly, I think that if I ever happened to marry him then we would kill each other, fifthly… I just do not want to marry anyone least of him." I held out my hand and as I recited each reason, I ticked off a finger on my hand

"Well… now you've explained all this to me, I wonder whether it was a faulty arrow I sent your way those years ago when you two were so… involved with each other."

I turned around knowing exactly who was behind me, how dare he bring up the subject of what exactly me and Lynceus were doing after we left his brothers behind us. It was just a kiss, nothing more, and a whole lot of things less.

What was this week with me and Gods? Why did they all seem to be poking their noses into my business?

"Eros, how delighted I am to see." Note the enhanced sarcasm in my voice, this particular God has always brought out the utter worst in me, it stems back to when I was little, or well, littler, and we played tag, and hide and find, he always cheated by vanishing whenever I got near. The rotten cheater, he may be a God, but he is as annoying as the male species get, well… apart from Lynceus, but that is a completely different story.

Being friends with Aphrodite, myself and her son had grown up playing pranks on each other, he was like my brother, for we had both been young children together and he had been just as handsome and charming then as he was now, but when I turn twenty-five and still continue to age, he will not.

"I haven't seen you in what must be months where have you been? Too busy looking up Hera's robes to see me? Funny, is it not, how you are still an eavesdropping sneak just like you were when we were young? Can I also remind you of the fact that your arrow sent in the direction of Araidne and Theseus must have lost its target halfway through its flight. How unrequited love must sting."

Oh how he flinched at that memory! I loved having the last word with him, it was so rewarding because it happens so very rarely.

The God had changed little, the last time I saw him he was a rather tall but not quite as tall as Lynceus, a lively youth with blond hair that was the exact shade of his mother's, and big brown eyes that bordered on a bright amber; eternal youth is a greatly desired thing. Still lacking a wife or long-term partner the God was utterly obsessed with himself and the various pleasures of the flesh, but that was to be expected with who his mother was, he was also totally in love with mischief and playing tricks on everyone regardless of rank or status, even Zeus himself has tasted humiliation at the hands of this young immortal and that made Eros a great deal of enemies.

He was still a heart taker, leaving nothing behind for any man or even woman who might come along after him and woo the girl. He took it all and gave nothing back. He had never stolen anything belonging to me however and I make a point of telling you that he never will. He is only like my older brother and my affection for was not stolen but freely given through the years that we were there for one another, although we fight and torment each other rotten, at heart we love each other like family. We had grown up together as children, played and teased and hugged each other when the other was hurt or injured, only now, when he approached his twenties, that is the age he will forever stay as, I will age and grow winkled and weathered by my years just as he never will.

"Oh… Nestra, so are you grouchy because you have finally learnt what love is? Or just because it is your usual mood? Remind me."

"I am not in love with him!"

The annoying God danced around me taunting and teasing me. I picked up a clot of mud and threw it at him. He vanished and it fell to the ground, inches away from Artemis, she sent me a rueful glance and raised an eyebrow at me.

This started a new competition; every time I threw something at him he vanished, ducked or nimbly stepped out of the way.

"That isn't fair, you are immortal, and I am not."

"Fine then, come into my world and play with me, bring your friend as well, Artemis my dear, I do not think that we had ever bee acquainted as well as we should have been. But then again Nestra, what will lover boy say when he realises that you have gone with me? Will he be jealous?" His eyes glittered and he tilted his head at me waiting for my answer.

I caught him off guard and thwack went my fist against his shoulder. No time to vanish he caught the full impact of my anger, even Gods hurt some times.

"I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH HIM; HE is NOT my lover boy and never will be. Finally I could NOT give a rat's arse what he thinks about me going with you."

He tutted at me, "Such language coming from a lady." I made a rude gesture at him, which he willingly returned, thus began the competition of the finger flicking, insult trading and other things that so many years ago we had started, never tell me to grow up readers for I greatly fear that I simply never will.

He danced in front of me and I followed him, along with Artemis. I saw him appraise her in a look, which was all I needed to stick my nose in the air and inform him that men were weak and too controlled by their emotions. Artemis then informed him in a somewhat royal way that she was not available and never would be for him, she ruined the whole thing however by winking enormously at him.

I stepped into his world. Expecting pink or red air, roses, butterflies and birds singing love songs… I was not disappointed.

"Could you not think of anything a little manlier? Or are you just not capable of it?"

"Nicely said my Lady Ness, I wonder what it would be like in your world? Empty and dull I would imagine."

"My name is Nestra, nobody calls me Ness if they want to live intact or live at all."

"Tell me, what part is your lover missing then?"

"Would you not like to know? But know this; firstly he is NOT my lover and never will be, and secondly I will kill you if you call me that again."

"You could not, I," He said as if speaking to an idiot very slowly, "… Am… immortal."

Artemis and I burst out laughing, and then caught Eros trying to take advantage of the situation and about to throw a piece of dirt at me, there was actually dirt in his world. With a laugh, I lifted up my arms, and vanished, amazed with the sensation of feeling my body fade. The dirt hit Artemis instead!

That sparked an angry, red fire in her eyes as she went crazy. We fought for hours in his world; I was undisputedly the best even though I had only just been introduced to the world of disappearance and reappearance.

The girls fought two against one up and Artemis blocked him so he could not vanish, so we sat on him and pelted him with mud!

"That, serves you right for thinking you were better than us and for all the times you cheated when we were little and we played games."

The world faded and we were back, lying on the sandy grass laughing next to my tree, I sat up and collapsed back down with hysterical laughter.

I tried to grab something, anything to throw at him, but before I could adjust to my surroundings, there was a terrible shriek out of the window,

"Hypermnestra, get up out of that filthy grass now, we have been searching for you for hours, where have you been? No do not answer that, just get inside and get ready now we only have three hours to get ready! Immediately, move now!" My step-mothers shrill voice exemplified double its normal sound was terrible, I winced.

My two play mates gone I was left alone to dutifully get up and get ready for another boring party. A whisper of goodbyes told me that they had not completely gone and were watching over me as always, for all eternity.

I silently thanked them and blessed Artemis, she knew I would feel somewhat depressed today, she probably also knew that I would have that nightmare too, and must have persuaded Eros to call on me, not that he needed much persuasion to irritate me up.

I could not remember the last time I laughed so much, and the memories of that day lasted all the while as my step-mother asked me what I was doing sitting on the grass for hours on my own, from what she said I gather that she had spent a lot of time and energy shouting futilely at my still figure. I gained a petty pleasure from imagining her ear-splitting screams out of the window, immature I know readers, but I had so few victories over that tyrant of a woman that I learnt to savour the few that I gained.


	8. My Warriors Sweet Talk

_"My only love sprung from my only hate!_

_Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" _

--From _Romeo and Juliet _(I, v, 140-141) By _William Shakespeare_

In my haste all those days again I forgot to tell you precisely what happened when I stepped into Eros' world. Every God or Goddess has a place where they can go and escape life, and only their most privileged or closest friends, being mortal or immortal, are allowed to enter there and only if the owner of the world wills them to. When we were little, Eros' world was a place where we would escape my step-mother and sisters, a place were I often spent the night, to hide away from the fights, the argument and the abuse my father doled out on a regular basis, a place that was not polluted by hate, a place where I could curl up next to Eros and we would spend time telling ghost stories or things that made me shudder, are you beginning to understand why, dear readers, that I love Eros, that incorrigible and irredeemable God so?

I also forgot to tell you how in the world I was able to disappear, do not worry, I am not turning into an immortal, that is a lonely path to take, I can not imagine watching all my mortal friends die again and again for all of eternity and my utmost pity is with Artemis and Eros. The simple, or rather complicated, explanation, depending on how you think, is that in their worlds there are no immortal or mortal people. This is probably due to what I have just talked about, the loneliness of eternity.

No doubt you are also probably confused about why my father's wife was screaming at my still body when I was having fun some where that wasn't in front of our tree. Well… only my soul enters the worlds, my earthly body is left behind and while in the world I suppose I can do what I want, I probably could have dreamed up a new body for myself, but I didn't, wishing to be different only brings sadness, and I would only have to return to my old body in the end anyway.

That day was now weeks ago, I had continued to go to Lynceus' house, but not every other day, that was just asking my father to note my disappearance and find out the cause for it, in stead I went every twice or so a week.

To my chagrin, Aegyptus decided that these meetings were the perfect reason to nudge, or rather shove in his case, us together. He thought of every reason under the sun to force us to spend time together, music lessons, walks outside, everything. Sadly for him they did not work, neither I nor Lynceus really wanted to spend time in each others company, as for music lessons, do not start me on a rant about how badly Lynceus sings, the memory will only hurt my ears further. I rather think Aegyptus remembered his marriage, and how rather than being an arranged one, it had been a chosen one, made because of love even though there were difficulties and he wished his son to have one like his.

Disturbingly during the last, few times I was there, Lynceus kept looking at me and made me so nervous I almost forgot everything I had learnt, I made an excuse to go home earlier those days, quite frankly I was concerned and wondered whether he had lost his mind. I did get rid of my previous stupidity though and asked for someone to walk me home, I was granted with several large and strong warriors who said nothing to me, and dropped me off just before I or they could see my own cold house.

Tonight I am going to have apologise to you again just like I did those years ago, apologise for not being able to account for my actions without sounding so girlishly silly or wimpish, you must think that every time I come within an inch of him I turn into a clone of my sisters. Please do not say anything about hard rocks having soft centres or anything like that; I get enough of that sort of thing from Eros, it is all him and his arrows fault, bringing trouble down on innocent mortals.

I had just got back home from a party where I had again seen Lynceus, I was now beginning to get very suspicious about the amount of parties that both of us attended, the world cannot be that small. My 'friends' were again milling around me, but a little less amorously as before thankfully, I suppose I do owe him that. Although it could be that every time they come within a foot towards me Lynceus glares at them and makes threatening gestures. But we ignore each other otherwise; I neither acknowledge his existence nor even think that I know him, that way my father will not find out.

All he did at that party to acknowledge that he had seen me was wink at me and smirk in a completely unattractive way when I blushed, yes, shock horror, Nestra can blush! It is possible and no the world is not coming to an end.

I was lying in bed asleep when stones began to fly through the window, I was not hallucinating or having a vision, they truly began to come through my window. I ignored the first few convinced it was Eros outside trying out another ingenious method to make me mad. However, when what must have been the thirtieth one fly disastrously close to my bed I was mad, got out of my warm bed and stood at the edge of the window, and threw half a dozen of them back outside, what was it with annoying me, why did the Gods plague my life? I also shouted in a completely unladylike way,

"Eros, stop throwing those stone into my window. Or next time you appear I will take you into my world which I am sure will not be as empty as you seem to think it is, then I will strip you of your powers and fight you mortal to mortal and see how you fare. Haven't you had enough fun playing with me? Or you just like to be beaten by girls; you know you will never win!"

I know it sounds strange to some one who did not know what exactly we were playing, or about the strange brother-sister relationship we had, but I honestly thought it was him outside. After saying that I then threw a stone at the dark shape I could see outside. As soon as it hit the shape on the head with a thud, I knew it could not be Eros; he would have vanished just before the stone hit him simply to show-off.

After being assaulted by my stone and possibly many others that came his way that just happened to fly out of my window, the dark shape shouted back at me,

"It is Lynceus not Eros, and what exactly have you been doing with the God of Love Nestra? What games have you been playing with him that I should know about?"

"Nothing that you have to know about. Or think about." I came out of the shadows and looked down at him. "Why?" I added, not able to resist smirking in a way I had learnt off him, "Are you jealous?"

Outside my window, there was a small balcony, on which I stood, that was just big enough for me. Next to the balcony, there was the tree that I usually climbed down. He stood by the tree looking up at me with a handful of stones in his hands.

He smiled back at me, his black eyes glinting dangerously in the moonlight. "Yes," He said back, "I am horribly jealous, in fact I might be so jealous that I go and hunt down your God of Love and kill him."

I laughed at him, "That, you big fool is impossible, the God of love is a God, an immortal, he cannot die."

"I know, so therefore Ness, you have almost forced me to do the impossible only because you've made me so jealous." I laughed again with him, it felt good to laugh with someone, I so rarely did it that sometimes it felt odd and unnatural to laugh.

"So what brings my jealous and bold warrior that is going to kill Gods for me out this far?" I wasn't surprised he looked as if he had nearly had an attack of the heart after I had finished speaking, not only had I never spoken to him like that before, but I had just claimed him as my own, my warrior. I knew it had been a mistake as soon as I had closed my mouth, if his eyes had only glittered before, they now sparkled like stars and his mouth curved upwards in that infuriating smirk. I mentally cursed myself in three different languages, then repeated it backwards, and tried to control my mouth, and then I mentally slapped myself, curses!

"I have come to speak to my lady and sing her sweet songs of love." His mocking eyes stared back up at me and he raised an eyebrow waiting for my response, I think he thought this was some sort of verbal game between us, the problem was, I knew nothing about the rules of this game, while he knew them all too well.

I playfully scowled and leaned over the edge of the balcony, directly above him before reminding him, "I am nobody's girl but my own and I never will be anyone's…" I continued after a second, "But… for tonight, only tonight mind, you can be mine." I looked at the floor for a moment in fear of blushing if I looked at him. Instead of looking upset or hurt, he looked like he had just been presented with a challenge. I got rid of what was fast becoming something a situation that I really did not want progressing by teasing him.

"If what you call singing is that dreadful noise that comes out of your mouth, then you can keep your sweet singing in your mouth and spare my ears." My hair, pulled back in a plait was coming unravelled and dangled down over the balcony to his hands, he picked up a piece and curled it around his fingers.

"No, I really came here to give you something my Lady Ness."

"What insulting names do your brothers call you that I can insult you with?"

"You mean apart from hideous troll, was it not?"

"I believe it was hideous giant. Answer my question."

"They call me gorgeous,"

"Pig headed,"

"Handsome,"

"Arrogant,"

"Charming,"

"Conceited,"

"Or fascinating."

He climbed the tree and sat on the edge of the balcony wall. He fumbled with his cloak and took out a piece of parchment, then handed it to me. I unravelled it and just stood there and stared at it.

It was me… all the times he had been looking at me; he had been trying to draw me. It was my eyes with sparkle and fire, my unruly hair looking like Eros had grabbed my feet and pulled me backwards through a tree, my sarcastic grin. But it was not me; he had drawn me beautiful, softened in ways that in reality were still rock hard.

"I really do not look like this." I told him with a smile.

"I think you do." It was undeniable that he had a great deal of talent somewhere, deeply hidden. "You look beautiful like that now, when you smile at me."

We stood there a talked a while and he let me know that he had a birthday coming in a few weeks, I made a point of looking and acting like I wasn't bothered, but I made up my mind to ask his father his permission to arrange a party for him.

He left climbing down the tree, but not before kissing me goodnight and playing some more with my hair, which he had unwound out of its plait. As he ran away lest my father caught him, he blew me a kiss, which I refused to return, I waved at him instead.

After he left whose voice should I hear in my head but Eros', the trouble making God, what was he doing, keeping an eye out for me? Or was he being protective?

_Ness, you're glowing in the dark, you look happy. I am not the only man in your life now, I will have to fight your father for second place, do you think I will win?_

_**Hands down Eros, always, my father is not even in the equation. I am happy brother.**_

_I wish you luck and a great deal more happiness sweetheart. _As he thought that he sounded wistful and I wondered, what did he want? Did he even know?


	9. Of Promises and Jade

_"My only love sprung from my only hate!_

_Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" _

--From _Romeo and Juliet _(I, v, 140-141) By _William Shakespeare_

"My my… some one has some talent here, it looks so much like you it is unbelievable, why, he might as well have simply put you onto this paper. He's spent a long time looking at you, a great deal of time."

"I will ignore that last comment, but I know, it does looks like me, but he's drawn me… he's drawn me beautiful."

"Well… maybe because beauty is in the eye of the beholder." That was Artemis, the first person was Eros, and the three of us were crammed together in a tree, on a branch, in my special place. I was swinging from the tree upside down, Eros was sitting on my right trying his hardest to pull me off, and Artemis on my left leaning against the trunk, watching us with a great deal of amusement.

"I cannot believe he drew this and then came all this way to give it to me. But it is only fair I suppose, I have been going to his home to sing."

"But Ness, the only reason you have to do that is because you hit Prince Charming on the nose instead of kissing him on the mouth."

I hit him, "What would you know about that. You just have a filthy mind." I muttered under my breath.

"I know quite a bit more than you think darling. As for the filthy mind I am the God of love, you know." He grinned at me, and carried on.

"After all… you never know who might have been watching last night Nessie."

Now Eros went too far.

"You like the name Nessie do you not Eros?" I said with a deceptively innocent smile, "I will tell you what; you can become Rosie, is that good?"

I jumped out the tree and shrieked as he ran after me and picked me up. He then ran around like a maniac and tickled my feet, unbelievably Artemis joined in as well, and she was supposed to be on my side!

"So, how much do you like him?" That was Artemis, lying on the ground next to me.

"Yes, tell us, so I can tell him." That was Eros, sitting next to Artemis, away from me attacking him.

"I like him more than Rosie, but less than my father."

"Really… how sweet, I didn't know you felt like that about me, honestly I am flattered."

I threw grass at him, which he transformed into a sugary sweet and ate. Gods how I hate immortals!

But, as all good things must come to an end, so did our happy time together. Ours ended in the form of four girls, my half sisters.

The oldest was Gorgophone, my childhood enemy and the girl I had once marked with my teeth. She was rapidly gaining weight, so much so that my father had remarked to his wife one day, "Your daughter needs to go on a diet, if she gets much fatter no man will want her, you do not want her to end up looking like you do you?"

She was not fat, just a bit plump but looked it, especially when compared to her other sisters. Even with a little extra weight she was still beautiful but more good looking really; better looking than I was, shall I say. Her long gold hair hung in a fall of yellow straight down her back, her pale brown eyes glimmered weakly.

It was the beginning of Autumn, and the heat of the summer had not yet died, it was scorching hot. This made it sensible to wear little clothes or lighter ones, but also encouraged many unscrupulous peoples to go around wearing nothing. I was wearing a short dress that came to just above my knees, with no sleeves, the skirt was admittedly rather shorter than I was used to and there was a slit up the back of it so I could move with ease. Me, Artemis and Eros had decorated the thin, white cloth with colourful swirls and patterns.

The other three girls were three of the four out of the quadruplets that had come after her. Two were anorexic, they never ate unless my father tied them to a bed and forced food down them, which he had actually done before, and one could do nothing unless she was told to it, she was daft and just stood and stared at me.

"So… rumour has it that Hypermnestra has finally found some one? Well, I will tell you now to save you any future upset, he is just bored and deciding to play with you."

I ignored her poisonous voice and even more deadly accusations, my good mood would not be spoiled by anything and walked away, I was so happy that it would take a lot to make me mad enough to fight her. Eros looked worried and vanished.

"Thanks a lot. So glad you were here to help me out."

_Sorry, but I do not do violence very well, I might get hurt, besides some of your sisters are too good-looking to fight._

I snorted, if only he knew.

After shouting various obscenities at me, mostly describing how Lynceus would leave me after growing bored with me. I did not retaliate, just walked on; Artemis was still next to me thankfully, she had morphed into a normal human girl, same size as me, still beautiful. But looking murderous, her eyes were rapidly glowing red, and were they her hands that were glowing blue very dangerously.

"You know I do feel extremely sorry for that man, Lynceus, your betrothed… imagine, only you for the rest of his poor life."

That evil tongued idiot, what did she know?

"I am not his first and I know that I will probably not be his last so he won't have me only for the rest of his poor life. You know nothing."

"No, it is you that do not have the facts, and you're supposed to be the clever one." She paused and looked at me in disgust.

"Today, a proclamation to his whole kingdom announced that he would have no one else but you for the rest of his earthly life. If he does stray from you then he said that you have the legal right to castrate him. Personally I hope he strays."

"What… he did that?"

I turned to Artemis amazed, hoping for her confirmation, and she nodded with a broad smile. I grinned and turned away, letting Gorgophone know that I was pleased about something was a call for her to ruin, destroy or break whatever it was that gave me such pleasure. I heard Eros laughing in my mind, making fun of my and my lack of knowledge, why was it that Gods were obsessed with sharing my mind and my thoughts with me?

"You know, with your lack of good looks, and unappealing nature, he might just be more interested in me, after all, he is just too good-looking to be wasted on you. Anyway, he wouldn't be able to resist, being who he is, and even better, you would have to castrate him."

"Meaning that we would have no children, and he would be passed by as king, as we would have no children, leaving you to take over our lands with your husband. You vicious cow."

"You know I might just do that …it's a good idea actually."

I saw red, quite literally after that. But… four against one was bad odds, I looked across at Artemis and knew that it was two against four.

I looked again, no; two against three, Scaea, the daft one would just stand and watch, unless she was specifically told to hit, to kick, to fight, she would not do so.

In a flash, I leapt on Gorgophone, pulling her hair and scratching her face. I screamed at her. I could see Artemis circling the other two, waiting to pounce. Lightening quick, as fast as a cat she sprang up and hit both of them on the top of their heads, hard, with her elbow. They fell like rock and hit the ground with a thud.

My attention distracted, Gorgophone punched my mouth, I screamed. I picked her up and threw her on her back, sat on her, twisted her arms around and held them with one hand, grabbed her hair and pulled her head back with the other.

"First of all, four against one is very bad odds, unless you are as stupid as you seem to be.

Second, stay away from Lynceus is you want to keep your skin nice and smooth. He is mine and mine only."

"Thirdly," Artemis began, "You would never be able to handle him anyway, Nestra will be more than enough for him. There are many things more preferable to you and your many and obvious weaknesses. I will remember you when the time comes, and heed this, I will show you as much or as little mercy as you have shown others, heed that."

I got off of her and we walked away, together.

"Thank you for staying with me."

Artemis smiled at me, her eyes back to their usual colour.

"Eros," She screamed, "You lousy, coward, you can come out now."

"What? I was looking out for you; I would not have let Ness get hurt. What do you take me for?"

"A yellow-bellied God with no guts, what are you immortal or mouse?"

"Immortal God of course."

"More like frightened little girl Rosie."

He grabbed me and tickled me again. They bickered good-naturedly for ages until they vanished off somewhere together. I was on my way to Lynceus, to tell him how stupid he was.

I went in the front way by accident and was delayed by a pompous guard who told me that if I was one of Lynceus' girlfriends he did not care if we had fifty children or five hundred, I was not allowed in.

I was fully prepared to give that little man a piece of my mind until Aegyptus saw me and called me over. Smiling a smug smile at the embarrassed guard, I took my seat next to the king.

I sat on a seat next to him, showing everyone how honoured I was. The seat was only a little more than a cushion on the floor, but it showed of my place.

"Uncle."

"Hypermnestra, what happened to your face, I swear if it was your father I will kill him. If it was not, tell me who and he will not live past two weeks."

My lip was split and I had a cut over my eyebrow, but I smiled.

"It was my sister and she came off looking a lot worse than me."

He smiled at me fondly.

"But what will your father say to it?"

"My step-mother will scream at him and tell him I am mad and dangerous and not fit to be a queen, then he will tell her that I least will be independent and not let my husband rule me. That any one wishing to invade my land will think twice about attacking me, because of my wrath."

I looked around, his sons were seated before him on various levels of seating showing how favoured they were at that moment. Lynceus was the only one seated on the floor.

"Why is Lynceus on the floor, you aren't mad because of the proclamation? Are you?"

"No, he is on the floor because he was caught red-handed sneaking in and out of the house last night. Sorry to tell you this Nestra… but he cannot go around openly courting you one minute and then go off at nights to someone else."

I flushed scarlet and shot a venomous look at Lynceus, if he was going to sneak in and out why did he have to get himself caught?

"Did you ask him who he was seeing or why he was out at night?"

"Yes," he said with a small smile, he knew perfectly well where Lynceus had been, he just wanted to let me know, he gave a mock sigh, and continued, "He told me that this girl had more interesting qualities to explore, than her body and her favours."

I have said that I had flushed scarlet; well the colour that I now turned to must be even brighter. I was going to kill him, or torture him until he begged for mercy.

"Next time," I said quietly in my uncle's ear, "that your son decides to speak and boast of my more interesting qualities, please remind him of my reputation as an ice woman, and that he may well be giving me attention that I do not need right now."

His smile was brighter than all the candles in the room.

"You do know how happy you make me by saying that. Or how happy he will make you."

I ignored that and began planning and plotting a party for that son of his.

Trying hard to catch his eye, when I finally did, I meaningfully flicked my eyes to the door, being dense or just plain annoying, he shrugged and feigned stupidity. I lost patience with him, walked over, dragged him up by the corner of his robe and shoved him out the door with a hard push.

The whistles and comments were hard to ignore, but most infuriating of all was Lynceus, turning around and shouting to them all,

"She just cannot resist me." I kicked him, hard, up his backside and turned to make a very rude hand gesture to the people left in the room.

We walked out to see the dark night sky, and he turned around and saw my face properly.

His hands cupped my cheeks and his eyes grew dark with anger.

"I swear, however did this will die."

I grinned at him, "And if I have already killed her?"

"Then I will resurrect her simply for that purpose." He said with obvious relief, "Your sister?"

"Yes, she threatened to seduce you, so I would have to castrate you and neither of us would inherit our kingdoms and she would."

"Nice. Were you jealous?"

"Should I be?"

"Possibly, I do have a reputation."

"Just of being an arrogant big-headed fool." Instead of wounding him or annoying him he smiled, and touched my ears.

"I forgot you had two piercings, not just one." I had two gold loops in each ear, but why was he bothered?

"Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

"No, I do not know what you might do to them."

"Come on, do you not trust me?"

Reluctantly, I closed my eyes and held out my hand. I opened them when I felt something heavy in them. But it was not just one thing, but two.

Two beautiful teardrop earrings that captured a single jewel of jade were in my palms.

"They're beautiful."

"I am glad you like them."

"I do like them, they're lovely."

"Look at the back of them."

I turned the over. One was engraved with the words _Only yours forever onwards_ with today's date on it, the other had _Mine only in passing moments_ on it with the date that we had met on. I could hardly stay angry with him after that, but I could still plan my revenge.

"You remembered the date," I reached up and touched his ear, it was unpierced, I could plan a perfect revenge. "I will pierce your ear tomorrow."

"Will it hurt?"

"Yes, but I will be gentle with you."

He raised his eyebrow at me. He didn't believe me, I didn't either.

"Isn't pierced ears a symbol of a slave?"

"Yes, but I like them."

"What else have you pierced?"

"Nothing that I am prepared to show or tell you here."

He looked at me with a great deal or unnatural interest. Perhaps teasing him was not wise.

"I will meet you tomorrow here, bring an earring, and a great deal to eat, I am capable of out-eating anyone, even you, so bear that in mind."

As I turned away, he grabbed my arm.

"The earrings reminded me of your eyes. I mean what I have had engraved on them, only you, forever."

I smiled, picked up his hand and kissed his palm.

"I know." Some times you did not have to say things, because somehow you had already said them.

With that I ran, all the way back to my home, fuelled by mere emotion that ran through my veins with the strength of fire or ice.

I listened not when my father and stepmother screamed, nor when my stepsister hissed dire threats at me. My head and heart were elsewhere. I am sure that you readers can guess where, without me telling you.


	10. Cold as Ice and Twice as Painful

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE 60 REVIEWS, KEEP IT UP! THE REVIEWS WERE SO NICE, GODS! I LOVE EVERYONE.

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

_Now only mine, forever and ever,_

_But just make sure that you remember_

_Balls or not!_

_They'll be off!_

_If you stray from my heart._

This day I was dreading, and not because I was scared of piercing Lynceus' ear, no! That was going to be the good bit, bring it on! It'll teach him not to get caught sneaking back into his own house.

No, the reason I was worried was the small, or rather larger-than-life problem of his majesty Rosie-Posie and the trouble that him and Lynceus were bound to get into. I had been black-mailed against my better, beautiful nature to bring along with me Artemis and Eros, together the four of us were double trouble, double!

He was wating for me as I had told him to, see, he was beginning to learn, he only needed to be trained. I was walking with Artemis on my left and Eros on my right. That rat was deliberately tripping me up as I walked, and because he was invisible it looked like I kept tripping over my own big feet. I muttered a dire, vile threat at him under my breath, all he did was wink, blow me a kiss and he vanished, only to reappear in the right of Lynceus.

Rosie was preparing to push him over, still invisible to normal mortals. I glared at him.

_Do that and I swear I will kill you in your world, he going to be in enough pain as it is, wait until I've pierced his ear later on and I'll join in as well._

_**You are just jealous that I thought of it first.**_

He winked at me, letting me know he would make Lynceus' life hell later on.

He became visible and leaned heavily on Lynceus' shoulder.

"I do believe," he said in his ear, "That we are going to be the best of friends. I am constantly abused by those two mere women, but really, only one woman, Artemis, after all you can hardly call Nessie a woman, can you?"

I threw mud at him and he vanished and reappeared behind me with the mud ball, he then dumped it in my hair.

Lynceus laughed and as he told Eros that he too thought they would be friends. I glared at him and threw a stone at him, at least he didn't vanish.

"Lynceus, Artemis." I gestured to his left, Artemis to had left me. "That thing on your right is Rosie Posie."

I smiled sweetly at Eros.

"Call me that and I will make you fall in love with a goat, simply for the pleasure of watching Nestra castrate you."

"If you listen to him I will kill you, nobody listens to me when I ask them not to call me Nessie, why listen to him?"

"Well… Nessie suits you and he is the God of love, how exactly did he get the name Rosie?"

"He called me Nessie, and if you don't stop it I'll call you Lynnie."

"But that's a girls name, and I'm not a girl."

"Very well observed brain box." Artemis said laughing at him.

"So what exactly am I then Lynnie?" Asked Eros dangerously, "A transvestite?"

"Let's stop this debate over who's a boy and who's a girl, Eros, everyone know that you are a girl, and Lynceus, everyone knows that you are just stupid, time to pierce your ear."

Artemis froze his ear, Eros stood and laughed at the bizarre faces Lynceus was pulling, and his feeble protests that he really did not need his ear pierced, and I passed the needle through a flame of a small fire that I had lit.

"Where's the earring?"

"Here." He passed it to me. It was a small black stud.

Eros sat on Lynceus to brace him before I pierced his ear, although I really don't think that it was necessary.

As I pushed the needle into his ear, my mind went blank and body limp, I knew what was happening, I frantically sent messages to Eros, and Artemis in what I knew would be my last lucid moments. Artemis grabbed my shaking hands and continued the piercing while Eros picked me up and set me down on the floor.

My eyes rolled back into their sockets, and I was transported somewhere in the future.

**_My eyes opened and I looked around, my visions did not normally last long, so I would only be here for a few minutes. I lay in a bed of silk, soft and cool, the room I was in was filled with expensive and beautiful things, there was a piece of polished silver, acting as a mirror._**

_**I looked in it, it was me, no one else this time, sometimes I was other people, but it was me, I had short hair again and looked a little older and more tired, but it was still me.**_

_**I turned over and screamed.**_

_**There was some one else in my bed!**_

**_I pulled the sheet of his head and was only slightly relieved to find out it was only Lynceus, I still wanted to know what exactly he was doing there. I kicked him_**

_**I looked down and saw my stomach, I screamed silently again, I had the biggest, most gigantic stomach anyone had ever seen, I was pregnant, God, the one thing I never wanted to be. I continued screaming, even though I knew that no one in this world that I was in would hear me, only Artemis and Eros and Lynceus, in the other one would.**_

Everything spun as I came back, my head hurt and I was screaming my head off like some one was trying to kill me, considering everything that I had seen, I would have preferred to be in a vision where I was being killed rather than one showing me looking like a beach whale.

Artemis was stroking my hair, my head was on Eros' lap who was looking worried, Lynceus sat next to me arguing with Artemis, who was trying to persuade him that I was not having a seizure, and that it was only a faint.

"I have seen faints before, and a person who is in a faint generally does not end up screaming like a banshee."

"I am a Goddess, do you dare suggest that I am lying?"

"Yes, I do, just because you are a Goddess doesn't mean that you are incapable of lying."

"Artemis never lies, it's Rosie you have to look out for, he wouldn't know the truth if it danced naked in front of him dressed as Zeus, shooting rainbows at him."

"I would if it was a female Zeus."

"What the hell happened Ness? Don't tell me you fainted because it wasn't a faint."

_Nestra, what did you see? Was it hideous?_

**_You can say that again, it was Lynceus, he was…. He was… he was, I don't know!_**

_**H**e was dead? He was tortured? He was killing you? He was what? _

_**Not dead, even worse, the exact opposite.**_

**He was pregnant?**

_WHAT?_

_**No you idiot, you know full well what I mean Eros. Number one, it's not going to happen, number two, I don't want to think about it, number three, I would rather be dead that what I just saw so don't please remind me.** _

**One question for you Ness, do you actually know where babies come from?**

_**Even if I didn't I would not want a biology lesson off of you. Why, what exactly are you trying to imply?**_

"I really would rather be included in this conversation if you could, rather than be in the middle of an imaginary argument between Ness and Rosie."

"Sorry, that was rude of us, but it was meant to be private." Artemis glared at Lynceus, silently reminding him of his manners. Eros threw a stone at Lynceus and hit him on the top of his head. I was again reminded of how much of a baby Lynceus was as he sat down and pulled faces at Eros, which just encouraged the God to pull even more grotesque faces back, which were impossible to copy, mainly because Eros had his nose wrapped around his head and his lip pulled down to his foot.

"All I heard was Nestra asking Eros what exactly he was implying, what's the secret? And what exactly was that so-called faint?"

"That secret was something between us, you weren't invited, and as for the faint, you are right, it wasn't a faint, but I don't want to tell you about it now, I'll tell you when I'm ready."

He shrugged and then threw grass at me.

"You didn't tell me how much that ear piercing would hurt. You said it would be a pin-prick, it wasn't. It hurt."

"Serves you right for getting caught sneaking back into your own house."

"That isn't fair, it was your fault."

"Was not."

Instead of arguing more with me he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, I kicked and hit and fought back, and even bit his shoulder, but it did me no good, Eros looked like his birthday had just come earlier, he could not be more delighted and even Artemis was laughing.

He stopped and asked me whether or not I wanted to be put down.

"Yes, I want you to put me down. Put me down now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure, put me down."

He threw me into a freezing cold ice stream. It was a cooler day today, but still hot, and I screamed my head off, loud and nastily high-pitched I grinned as they winced and put their hands over their ears. I was wearing my father long trousers and a top with thin straps, hopefully he would not notice if they were a little wet.

I got up with as much dignity as I could muster, being soaked to the skin and freezing, my hair dangled in my eyes, and I was really mad.

But my anger could wait for a little while as I spotted something that I was a great deal more interested in, the food basket!

"Eat first, revenge later."

I grabbed the basket and slung it over one shoulder, then climbed the first tree I saw,

"Any one who dares to come up and eat with and face my wrath may, and their own expense, all those who stay down there will get only my apple cores."

Artemis climbed up first, sat down beside me saying,

"Nestra, you know I am your best friend, how could I have stopped him from throwing you in that lake, would you like me to dry you off a bit?"

"That would be nice, and as for being best friends, I don't remember laughing my head off as I watch Eros throw mud at you."

Eros was next, climbing the tree whilst watching me cautiously out of the corners of his eyes, then came Lynceus, sitting as far away from me as he could, unfortunately for him it was not far enough.

The food he had brought was delicious, and he brought enough to feed an army which was good as I said to him before, I can out eat any one, just to prove it, all four of us had a competition. Eros and Artemis had an advantage of course, but even Gods have to watch their figures, and besides they hadn't been wandering around in other times, having visions really makes you hungry. As for Lynceus, well, he tried, but he really didn't stand a chance against me.

I am as slim as a stick, you know that, food goes straight to my feet or adds to my brain power, I don't gain weight.

The tree that I had chosen was not just a convenient place to eat, it was a weeping willow, one of my favourites and dangled over the stream that I had just been unceremoniously dumped in. I ate first of course and fought later just how I had been brought up, as a genteel and graceful lady.

I sat deliberately leaning onto the tree trunk, forcing all those who were too scared to sit next to me to venture out further down the branch, which was leaning out precariously over the stream.

Artemis had caught on; she usually knew what exactly I was plotting and decided that making peace with me was better than siding with Rosie and Lynceus. She sat the closest to me.

I moved round so I was leaning backwards over the branch and placed the basket on the floor, no use sacrificing the food still left in there.

I was already wet, so another soaking would not bother me if I fell in accidentally, Artemis and Eros would vanish being immortals, and as for Lynceus, well he would get what was coming to him.

"I think, being so hot, that a little dip in the water would be really nice, it would cool you down a little, yes?"

Immediately Artemis and Eros vanished and reappeared on the ground below us,

"Thanks a lot you two, glad to know I can count on you to help me, she's mad, you don't know what'll happen to me."

"I do, exactly the same that happened to me."

I inched along the branch and with one fast, sharp movement pushed him in, he grabbed hold of my wrist and fell in on top of him.

I swear by Zeus that the water was even colder than it had been before.

I screamed, again.

As for Lynceus, well, not only had he just experienced the coldest, wettest soaking of his life, I had also probably paralysed him by sitting on him.

"I am going to kill you for this, this water is freezing, how can this water be so cold, when it's so hot?"

He had screamed even louder than me.

"You are such a baby. Don't your brothers do things like this to you? Play pranks and tricks on you?"

"No, why would they? They love and respect me and obey me. My brothers would never dream of doing anything like this."

"Rubbish." Artemis said. "Your brothers loved playing with you."

"If they didn't I understand why you think so much of yourself."

They sky grew dark as the sun set, I finally persuaded Artemis to join us in the water by telling her that it was lovely and warm and a nice way to cool down a little, after all the sun had warmed it up a little bit more, really it was as cold as ever.

She had tried to drown me where she eventually came in.

Eros took the easy way, not believing us, he merely pointed at the water and warmed it up, then he came in.

"I do not believe that you warmed the water up for yourself, and you let him throw me in here, in freezing water, you rat, you really aren't my friend at all. Cheater."

We ganged up on him and soaked him, he was trying to keep him hair dry, and unfortunately, it did not stay dry, what with Artemis being as angry as she was and Lynceus trying to drown him.

We stayed the night there, it was warm enough to just sleep on the grass with a small fire burning, telling ghost stories.

Eros had Artemis up all night with nightmares about really strange things, such as butterflyies turning into snakes and eating her toes, after the gruesome tales he told us.

We tried to tell her that she was immortal and no creature would dare do that to her, but she wouldn't listen.

I was just happy to sit there between them and feel content.

We may have spent the night messing around and wasting time, but it is the best way to spend time.

**HELLO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME GET TO 60 REVIEWS, THANK YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!**

**IS IT CHEEKY OF ME TO ASK FOR 70 THIS TIME? SORRY IF YOU THINK IT IS : (**

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 2000 words a go.


	11. Of Fireside Chats and Onyx

_"My only love sprung from my only hate!_

_Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" _

--From _Romeo and Juliet _(I, v, 140-141) By _William Shakespeare_

I was never going to get any sleep, sandwiched in between a loudly snoring Eros and a snuffling Artemis, who, I think were both acting as companions to make sure I stayed in between them and did not decide to wander about, say, right into Lynceus.

First of all, you may ask me why I so dread becoming a mother? Well, there is a simple answer to that, my father was the only parental influence over my life, and, as you know that meant speaking or being near us as little as possible only unless we needed punishing, what on this earth could I have to offer a child? I know nothing about being a mother and even less about being a good mother.

As for the screaming, the crying and the totally-dependent-on-me baby that **I** would have to take care of, horrors! I can think of several far less painful ways to torture some one. I do not know what sort of mother I would be, and I really would not like to go through hours of pain bringing this child into the world.

Quite frankly, marrying Lynceus was not really what I had imagined to be the highlight of my youth either. I knew we would possibly have to get married some day, but some day until now, had been a very long way off. I do not want to get married or have children; I do not want a man to rule my life.

My father married my mother, made her life total and utter hell and then she conveniently died IN CHILDBIRTH with his child. Then he married my step-mother, whose life, since she was sixteen, until 13 years later, was spend ALWAYS PREGNANT, always in pain with my sisters, never going anywhere, because she had to always 'think of the babies.' While she suffered giving life to my father's children, he was out, gallivanting with his mistresses. Life is always fair and just, is it not?

Now, you may ask me, why on this earth I would want to have children or even marry?

Simple answer, I do not! I have seen the effects of marriage and childbirth, I can see my stepmother, tired and worn to the bone, and she now looks more like my father's mother than his wife.

I wriggled out between them and flopped down in front of the fire, resting my head on my arms and watched the flickers of colour for a few moments.

I was being shown two sides of the same coin, life with Lynceus, or death with my sisters. Feeling the way I do towards marriage I am not sure which was more disdainful at the moment.

Aphrodite's words echoed in my mind,

_There will come a time in your life when your fate will be divided, and there will be two ways that you could go._

Were these the two ways, and what was my choice? To marry Lynceus or not? Not marrying him would hardly cause me to go to eternal hell, would it? Why were my sisters involved? Why was it down to me to change this fate? Or was it something much more important, that would change the course of all our destinies?

I sighed and looked into the fire again, so many things to think about, and quite possibly the most disturbing of all, the fact that just for a second, before I had begun to scream and actually think about what my life would be like, pregnant and married, I had felt happy, contented, it had felt right. Why had I been content then?

I looked up and saw my reflection in the fire, I looked at myself, looking for any differences there had been between my future self and who I was now. I had looked happy and healthy in the future, I was healthy now, and sort of happy, I was almost content.

I listened to whistling and whispered the words to it.

My face changed into Lynceus' face as he flopped opposite me, looking into the fire for answers just like me.

"Scared by Eros' nightmares? For a God of Love, he certainly has some unlovely thoughts going around in his head."

"No, got woken up by his unlovely snoring. You really do not know the half of what he thinks about. I really do not think you would want to either."

We sat in a comfortable silence, before I asked him,

"You heard what we were speaking about did you not? When we didn't want you to listen in, where did you hear it?"

He looked confused, "What do you mean?"

"Did you hear it hear," I said, leaning over and touching his ears gently, the tip of my finger touching his ear piercing, "Or inside your head?" My hands touching his temples, he grabbed my hands and moved them down his face only for him to kiss them. Curse the man! Why did he make me feel like this?

"Inside my head, it was like you were speaking in a different language or too quiet or just too fast; I could only make out a few words like Lynceus, implying things, and something to do with a lesson in biology, the rest was just incoherent murmurs. Why?"

"Usually no one hears us, because it's only between the three of us. Artemis calls it telepathy, it is a word from the future, and we can hear each other's thoughts because we are connected, joined together through our link to one another, Eros is like my brother, I grew up with him, and Artemis is the sister I never had. I wonder why you heard us?"

"Might be because I am becoming connected to you, and so I was invited into it through my connection to you, and it was about me. What were you saying about me?"

He moved to my side and lay on his back grinning up at me.

"I was plotting to kill you, then hide your body and have Eros masquerade as you."

"Charming. I know what you were saying, you were telling them how much you loved me, how handsome and irresistible you find me."

I snorted, he could have been more wrong!

"I was telling them how much I hated you, how you were horrible, ugly and just unattractive to me."

"Well, they might believe something like that, but you cannot fool me, you are secretly in love with me, I know, you cannot hide it from me."

"I wouldn't know what love is." I turned slightly so I did not see his eyes turn slightly sad.

"How come?" He pulled me back around and lifted up my chin so I had to look him in the eye.

"It's hard for those who have never been shown love to know and experience love for themselves."

"My father loves you like the daughter he never had."

Just like his son then, I did not say it, but he knew I was thinking it. Because… after all of this, all the fighting, the insults, Lynceus did love me, why I cannot figure out, but I was quite sure that he felt something stronger towards me that simple affection.

"Just like me then." Relief that he had said it and that I had not flooded through.

"Just like his son."

I watched him, and smiled when he smiled at me, he would wait for me to grow to love him.

"It's ironic, all these girls, liking me and throwing themselves at my feet, I could have had any girls I wanted, when the only girl I like has to have some time to learn or grow to love me."

I looked at him and smiled.

"So, when did you realise you liked me? Was the first time I slapped you, or the first time anyone had called you a hideous troll? Or was it when I told you that if you do not remember the past you repeat it's mistakes in the future, did that shock you?"

"The first time you broke my nose, but when you barged into the party, assaulted me then gave me a lecture about repeating mistakes it did make me think.."

"It wasn't really broken; by the way you were acting you would have thought it had been ripped off, not just bruised. You know that you will not feel the same way about me when you get to know me."

"Why will I not?"

"Because all I am inside is a reflection of my appearance, not very nice. Besides, I can fight with you and hit you; I doubt that is what you have dreaming of in a wife."

"Look here… your appearance is like the wrapping you put on a present, however dull or bright the shine, it does not hide the present inside and most of the time the wrapping is not better than the present."

I thought about what he said for a while and yawned, dawn was coming and I had not slept all night.

"Have you slept at all tonight?"

I shook my head.

"Lay down and get some rest. You will be exhausted when morning comes."

I obeyed and lay down with my back to the fire. my back pressed up next to his chest, knees bent at right-angles to my body, my head resting on his right arm, and his left wrapped tightly around me, Very possessive I thought to myself, and I can tell you, readers, that while I technically should not have liked that feeling of him being protective of me, in actual fact I did rather like, it made me feel safe.

He whistled, now he may have had a dreadful singing voice, but he could whistle like a bird. I knew the song he was whistling, a lullaby mothers sing to their children. I heard from a little girl singing to her dolly, not from remembering my mother's voice or, Gods forbid, my father or stepmother singing it to me. The same song he had been whistling before. I whispered the words to it as I went to sleep.

_Sleep my love,_

_T'is full moon's light_

_Fear not for angels in the skies above,_

_Make the stars to shine so bright_

_Protect us, keep us, and guard us in the night,_

_For what is darkness but the absence of all light?_

I closed my eyes and slept before I remembered that I had not asked him why he was awake so early. Before I could remember that he had just gathered up all of my hair, and moved it to one side so that that he could press his lips next to the nape of my neck. No… I should definitely not like the feeling of being safe, but… as it was… I rather did…

"Shush… I said BE QUIET… shush… he'll hear you."

I tapped a young boy on the shoulder, probably the youngest of all of Aegyptus' sons, he was excitedly telling one of his brothers something to do with his wonderful day, which had involved him learning to write and read, and how pleased he was when his teacher had threatened to cane him.

He ignored me and carried on talking. After all I was only a girl and I probably looked like a maid, but still! I kicked him and told to shut his mouth before I shoved my fist down it, I had been planning this for a month, and it was not going to be spoiled now. Looking at me as if he could not quite dare that a girl had just threatened him, he glared at me and I glared right back.

His older brother told him to shut up and that it would not be wise to ignore me again if I asked him to do something because I would do to him exactly what I had done to Lynceus months ago. That if I had said that I would put my fist down his mouth; then I would do it and with pleasure.

This was Lynceus' birthday party and the boy himself was coming around the corner any minute. Along with his father who was telling him about a certain flower that he was growing in the garden and how Lynceus had to see it.

"SURPRISE." We yelled and I laughed to see his truly surprised face.

His brothers, all forty-nine of them, gathered around him and leapt on him, hugging him, shouting at him, and all of them trying to take credit for the party that I had been planning.

As soon as they all had stopped yelling and Lynceus had been released from being half-strangled his father gestured towards me with a small movement of his head and Lynceus saw me.

"Thanks, I know you are the only one organised and clever enough to have arranged all of this."

His brother yelled their protest at being called stupid and several of them hit him round his head.

They picked him up, placed him on their shoulders and they carried him to the chair at the head of the table, an honoured place for him, usually it was his father sitting there. Now his father sat besides him on his left, and his younger brother sat at his right.

This change of table seating signified his coming of age; he was now recognised as Aegyptus' heir. This coming of age came only when his father said so, no earlier or later than that.

I watched as he opened all but one of his presents and he ate the food.

I would give him mine later. I ate and laughed with his brothers and they teased me and played with me. I had a better rapport with most of Lynceus' brother than I had with my own sisters and that was very strange, maybe it would make you a little sad if you realise that, but I had already accepted it and moved on from there.

After the food we played games such as tag or hide and seek.

I was slower than the other boys at running, but they stayed well away from me from the fear of me hitting them. I was the best at hide and seek, as I possessed the ability not only to stay as quiet as possible and I also possessed the intelligence to find out the best hiding places.

After hide and seek it was blind man's buff. We wrapped a scarf around Lynceus' head, twirled him round three times and ran away. He caught everyone once and had caught everyone but me the second time.

I was the only one left playing being the only one sober enough to be able to walk in a straight line and run like the wind whenever he came near; everyone else was sitting down watching or drinking even more alcohol behind Aegyptus' back.

I ran as he heard me move slightly, the twigs crumbling beneath my feet and then chased after me. I screamed as he gained on me, his long legs eating up the ground greedily.

Alas, I was a woman and could not run as fast as him, curses curses curses! Why could women not have been made equal to men?

He grabbed my arms, but lost his footing as I tripped him up, but he still did not let go of me and I was brought down to the floor with him, our limbs tangled up together and hysterical laughter coming from both of us.

I laughed and gasped for breath as he grinned and let go of my arm.

"Caught you. You haven't given me my birthday present."

"How do you know if I have got you one?"

"Come on. Do not be mean, it is my birthday."

"Okay, I will give it to you later."

He got to his feet and ran back to his brothers; he gave the back the scarf and spun another boy round. Then he ran back up to me, grabbed my hand and pulled me away.

"Stop for a minute and I will give you your present."

I gave him a scrap of paper on which I had written a poem especially for him.

_Now only mine, forever and ever, _

_But just make sure that you remember_

_Balls or not!_

_They'll be off!_

_If you stray from my heart._

"I cannot draw; all I am good at is sarcasm so I wrote you this as a way of thanking you for the drawing."

He read it and laughed.

"Hold out your hand and close your eyes."

He held out his hand, with no questions of trust or what I could do to him with his eyes closed.

"Open them."

I had dropped a small, thin necklace on his palm. Every three links there was a small black square, made from onyx.

"Reminded me of your eyes." I echoed his words to me.

He put it on and thanked me.

"What will you do when you become king?"

He looked at me strangely and answered me,

"Rule as wisely as I can with you by my side."

"If you weren't a prince, and I a princess, and we were just two ordinary people who hadn't been betrothed when we were babies, would you have chosen me to marry?"

"What has brought this on?"

"Answer the question." I told him, not prepared for him to wriggle out of answering it.

"Before I knew you… no. Father was against the whole thing from the start, but saw it as necessary to heal the rift between him and Danaus, he warned us about you, just telling us that you may look nice or speak nice, but you were Danaus' children and probably a lot cleverer than you looked."

"You really do not want to know what Danaus said about you. Go on."

"Then I met you, saw that you were different, clever and not really what you would call beautiful by normal values, and I wondered what exactly I wanted. Did I want a wife who would sit there and look nice? Or someone whose decision I trusted, who could rule with me, after all it would be your country we ruled as well as mine. So yes, I would choose you above everyone else."

I nodded and thanked him with a rare smile. I had the first answer, but everything rested on the answer to my next question, to which there was no right or wrong answer.

"Do you want children?"

If he answered 'yes' he was willing to put me through all of that pain and anguish, how could he! If he answered 'no,' well, I might as well castrate him now!

"This is a trick question, isn't it?"

I smiled sweetly at him.

"Answer the question."

"Only if you wanted them, but maybe, some day I think I would."

I smiled, right answer... some day was very far off from now… fool that I was, I ignored 'some day' right up until the point when 'some day' became tomorrow, how time flies by!

"You do realise that I am now a spinster, sixteen years old and not yet married, most girls are married at thirteen or younger, with a baby on the way at fourteen."

"I would prefer a wife that is able to think by herself as an adult rather than a girl, only just learnt how to read and write and speak. Any way, what do you care what people say or think about you? I would rather take this time to get to know you better."

We walked back to the party together holding hands for some of the way, him with his new necklace and the poem that I had written, and me, well, me wearing a smile on my face.

I wore the scarf next time, and for some unknown reason, the only person I caught was Lynceus, I never knew he had become as clumsy as to constantly fall into me.

From Aegyptus' grin, I do not think he remember Lynceus ever being this clumsy either.

Nevertheless… it was not that bad, I let him fall on the floor after catching him five times, from the bang that resulted from being dropped I think he learnt his lesson of coordination.


	12. Wet and Sick and Miserable

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD! **I also have my own forum now as well have a look at it, it's mostly an excuse for an argument or discussion about random things.**

**NOBODY CONGRADULATED ME ON REACHING 3000 WORDS, bet you would complain if I only wrote 1,000.**

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

The rains may have come to my dry, hot land late this year, but come they did and in a torrent of muddy, dirty water. It fell to earth as if the Gods themselves was displeased with us and all of them sat up there and cried.

Eros of course had a much more interesting theory on this, mainly concerning where exactly this gush of water came from, and how exactly Zeus could drink so much water. But I will spare you as I was not spared, from hearing all of the fascinating details of why exactly the earth was used as a toilet.

Personally, I think Eros has a better point, no God can cry that much from misery. But… I have a much more polite theory on what exactly the water is.

I can tell you the exact moment the rains began, sadly speaking, it is burnt into my memory; it was midnight on Lynceus' birthday when it started in small droplets. The party was still going strong, people were dancing around a bonfire, music roared and the food and drink flowed. The lamps were lit and the lawn was ablaze with fire, light and laughter. This party was a success, my success.

I was looking around for the birthday boy and found him, sitting, unnoticed, looking into the fire, again.

"What are you thinking of?"

"My life, what it would be like with you, and without you."

"Hell with me and hell without me."

He laughed.

"Come on, if you get up and grin and smile I'll dance with you. Just as long as you don't smirk at me, it's so annoying and horrible."

He smirked.

"Seriously?"

"Yes, now if you don't get up I'll kick you."

That got him to his feet faster than any other bribe could. We joined the circle and started dancing around the fire, jigging in time to the lively music.

He whirled me round and round, then pulled me towards him.

He kissed me. Mentally I compared it to the ones he had given me before, and snorted, sorry to ruin the romance, but I couldn't help it, and I had thought the others bold. God's, how naïve was I!

You do not want to see the colour I'm blushing at the moment just thinking about kissing him. Maybe I am girl after all if I can feel like this, maybe, just maybe, there is hope for me after all!

He stood there, blocking the way of all the dancers, bold as brass. There was me, held against him, making no movement to get away. I ignored everything except him, my arms looped around his neck and his arms around my waist. That was until I held the comments and the whistle of his brothers, loudest of all was his father, I suppose he had to get it from somewhere.

A kiss with no one interrupting and no God's voice in my head egging me on.

That was the very instant the rain began, a tiny pitter-patter of little water droplets, not that any one at that time expected it to become what it did.

My theory is that the God's were laughing so much at me; they were crying tears of mirth. Personally, if that is the case I hope they laughed themselves sick.

Due to the rain, the water was polluted and dirty, one only went outside if one wanted to catch disease from either the water or the damp and wet.

The gardens were flooded; the water came very nearly past our first floor window. My stepmother's garden, which I am sure did not reflect the ugliness of her inner personality, died and became liquid earth.

I watched out of the window as my favourite flowers fell under the sway of the water and died, the Agapanthus.' Which, and I kid you not, comes from the Greek word agape which means love, and the other Greek word, anthos, meaning flower, my flowers of love. They were such beautiful flowers, and they had such lovely purple petals, I mourned those flowers as silly as it sounds.

All the beautiful flowers died and most of the plants we used in our cooking. Any plant that came into my care died, so I used to greatly envy my stepmother her garden.

It was wet all of the winter and spring. I was cooped up in my room for months and months, with only my sisters for company. You do not realise how tedious my sisters are until you are forced to spend months in their company. It was dreadful; my only small mercy was Eros and Artemis' presence every now and then, and an occasional letter from Lynceus, who was also kept at home and forbidden from going out.

That was the only reason Eros came, to see what was in the letter, Artemis came because she realised I would go mad without her visits.

I grew so annoyed and frustrated that one day, in Elaphebolion, the Greek name for the ninth month in our year, which would be March in your time. It was still wet and the floods still showed no signs of lowering.

This is a completely serious tale and I did not make it up to amuse you. I fashioned a boat, out of an up-side-down table, some chairs and a wooden box.

I made oars out of branches fallen from trees that Artemis kindly brought me. Eros helped me tie the whole thing together using string and wool, and we had a great time testing whether it would be strong enough to hold all three of us, which really meant bouncing up and down on it to see whether the whole thing would fall apart or not..

I was sick of being inside my house; I just had to get out.

So… I pushed the strange-looking boat out of the window and into the water below us and one by one, we jumped down onto it. The immortals first as they obviously would not fall into the brown water, then me, grabbing their arms and looking very unsteady.

We tried to steer the thing, but after many futile attempts we ended up going backwards instead of forwards.

The current was too strong for us to fight against it.

So, and I know what I am telling you must be very hard to imagine. Close your eyes, think of this upside-down table, connected to chairs and a wooden box. Think about three people inside it, one screaming his head off, another shouting at the person screaming and the third trying desperately to steer the boat by herself.

Now imagine that this weird boat and the people inside it were travelling backwards, backwards, past a window.

Next to the window is a woman, next to the woman is a man, both look extremely not amused to be seeing this thing going past their window, and I remind you again, Eros was screaming but they couldn't see him, and I was shouting at him, or rather, just randomly shouting, and we were going backwards.

The man and the woman as you have already guessed are my father and his wife. She told my father not to bother doing anything as I had gotten myself into this trouble and so it would have to be up to me to get myself out. My father yawned, sat back on the chair and ignored me screaming for him to get some one to grab us. My stepsisters gathered around the window, watching me, as they could not see the Gods, as I made a fool of myself again.

Eros was terrified and eventually shut up with the screaming, sat down and would not go within and inch of the edge of the boat. When asked why precisely he was scared of the water, he answered, 'it's dirty.'

I was again reminded of the idiots that I was forced to associate with, and him a God as well!

Artemis was using language I have never heard her use before, mostly involving the relationship between the boat and a pile of horse manure, but I will not repeat some of the more interesting comparisons to Zeus' so called anatomy.

She was vainly trying to some-how grab a hold of the boat when the rain began again. This, I am sure proves my theory, we must have looked stupid in that out-of-control boat, it must have been amusing to them, as I am sure I would have found it funny, if it had not been me in the thing.

With the rain dashing into my face, lightening beginning and thunder roaring in an attempt to be heard over Artemis' screaming, I was filled with joy and hope. I wondered whether my father would, in a few days actually sent some one out to look for me, and if he did what would they find of my body to bring back to him?

I knew I was in with a lot of idiots when both of the immortals started begging for their lives.

"I don't want to die, I'm too young." That was Eros' plea, as he kneeled on the floor, his hands bent as if he really was praying to some one.

How many times much these idiots be told that they are God's before the message sinks in that they will not die from being attacked by dirty water?

Artemis offered her apologies to Zeus about the swearing and using his name in curses, though I am sure it had been done many times before her. She was saying that she would never do it again if he just this once saved her.

By this point, we were a long way from my home and there was not another house in sight for miles around, it was deserted. We could see a few trees, poking out of the water, but as for any sign of life, well, we were the only ones.

I swear before the boat blew over I heard Poseidon's laugh. I ended up, soaking wet, dirty and drenched in the foul water.

What had I told you in the beginning about the water and what happened to the idiots that went out in it?

That one only went outside if one wanted to catch disease from either the water or the damp and wet. That was precisely what I caught. A cold, which turned into something that could have been more worrying.

They got me home and I had my first experience of flying, it was wonderful! Of course that might have been me just being delirious, which is what my father thought when he asked me how I got home, and I answered,

"I flew, with wings, I was a bird."

For that remark a physician was called, mad people just cannot inherit the throne. The physician took one look at me and sighed. He told my father I had a fever and I was to go straight to bed, the very thing I was trying so hard to escape from. Curses!

I tried to persuade the man that I was not ill and that I was fine, but I think that when I could not stand up properly, well, that rather proved his case.

My first escapade out into the world after spending nearly four months inside presented me with a further month in bed. It really was not fair. When I had tried to get out my stepmother was waiting for me outside my door and threatened to tie y physically to the bedposts if I attempted to wander again.

By the time I was allowed out of bed, it was Olympeia, in Mounichion, which would be in April, the floods had sunk down until they were nothing but puddles and memories, but the sun still had a hard time showing itself.

The most ironic thing of the matter was that if I had waited just a few more weeks, well, the water would have been low enough for me to walk or wade without being drenched to the skin and then being sick for a month.

Olympeia is the greatest festival the Greeks have ever thought up, marking the new spring and celebrating Zeus, it was not just a reason to party, but an athletic competition for all those men who could remember their own name and walk in a straight line. Many, however, were too drunk on the excellent wine sold at the festival and were banned from entering, as were girls or boys under the age of sixteen. Because spring had come so late to Greece, the festival came late as well.

Markets came to town and peddlers. All those who know a tale and told it well proclaimed themselves wandering minstrels and sold their so-called trade in inns where they were welcomed gladly to cheer up the customers.

As for me, well, this festival would be the first time I had seen Lynceus in a long time. I was looking forward to seeing him make a fool out of himself at the games, for no man can resist entering, if to show off to friends or girls, to win the prize, or to win glory for himself.

Men are such fools! I still laugh at the image of Eros, curled up on the boat, sobbing his eyes out, begging not to die!

**2,383 words, **

**SORRY BUT YOU LOT WERE RUSHING ME ON, TELLING ME TO HURRY THE STORY ON, PROMISE A LONGER CHAPTER NEXT WEEK! DON'T CRUCIFY ME!**

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 2000 words a go.


	13. A Gift From Fate

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD! **I also have my own forum now as well have a look at it, it's mostly an excuse for an argument or discussion about random things.**

**SORRY FOR ALL THOSE WHO FIND THIS CHAPTER WEIRD OR VERY CONFUSING, SORRY, BUT ITS NECESSARY, AND PLEASE **DO NOT REVIEW TELLING ME THAT NESTRA IS A GIRL, I KNOW!

This chapter is my way of apologising for the last one. Hope you all like it

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

_When I feel your eyes on me,  
Feeling fine, its sublime,  
When that smile of yours creeps into my mind. _

Nobody told me it feels so good,  
Nobody said you would be so beautiful,  
Nobody warned me about your smile,  
You're the light,  
You're the light,  
When I close my eyes,  
I'm colour-blind.

_Colourblind by Darius._ **I discovered only a day ago that I really like this song, I've only just found it on my MP3 player, don't call me sad, please, I can't help that I like…strange music. I AM A HOPELESS ROMANTIC**

In order to celebrate Olympeia, everyone, from the nobles and lesser lords and their lady's, to the children running away from home to catch the excitement bug, came to Athens.

Our capital, the most glorious city anyone has ever seen, or it was then, I do not know what it is like now. I am sure though that no city in your time can rival the magic of Athens in Olympeia time. All the Gods come to see the show, and move invisible through the crowds, blessing those they take a fancy to.

The travel from our land, which was in the south of Greece near to Crete, was long and tiresome, but not as bad as it would have been compared to those who lived in the north.

It took little more than a fewweeks of non-stop travelling. My stepmother, and her daughters and my father travelled in a litter, held up by many sweating slaves. I rode on a camel, after threatening to make a scene by wearing trousers in Athens.

We stopped only to sleep in heavily tents. Hundreds of our servants came with us along with our clothing.

My Stepmother had been through my wardrobe and declared that none of my clothing was fit to be worn and that all of it would shame my father if I brought it along and wore it to the festival. She ordered a woman to come and take down all of our measurements and to create some new outfits for us all.

Very few I liked, but do not doubt that all of them I altered in some ways to make them more attractive to me. For example, one robe, the one that I am wearing now for the travelling, that was like a thin dress with long sleeves, it was fine, apart from the vile pink colour.

On a day when my watchdog did not stand over me to make sure that I did not twitch as much as a toe, Artemis came over with red berries and we dyed the dress into a deep, blood red. I do not like or suit well the pale colours that are in fashion in this time, the only light colour I like is white, and you cannot really call white a colour.

After arriving late at Athens we had to walk over to the other side of the city to where my Father's smaller house was.

Our house was on the opposite side to Lynceus', which meant that we passed it on our way. It was chaos there, boys were hanging out of all the windows, all of them were screaming. My father did not recognise them and went past oblivious, but many of them recognised me, and to my horror, in front of my father, they screamed at me, waved and called out my name. My father did not know yet about me seeing Lynceus, and I hoped to keep it that way, only the Gods know what he would do if he found out.

Thankfully, he was oblivious to everything, possibly because he was being 'served' by one of my maids, they spent a rather long time in his litter with the curtains down, my stepmother looked like she'd been sucking lemons.

After arriving at our house, the first thing on my mind was a bath and a change of clothing.

I got both.

Usually I do not use my maid, but because of the trip and appearances, she had to come along. She was the poor soul who my father was taking an unnatural interest in. She was small, and pretty, but something about her was not quite right, her eyes were sharp she saw and took in everything, much too perceptive, I thought to myself, for a mere servant.

I fidgeted as she brushed my hair; I was very impatient this day. But she laughed and told me to sit still; otherwise I'd never get out to see my young man.

I froze and sat very still. My mind raced in front of my thinking out situations and scenarios.

"I don't know what you mean, I have no young man, have you mistaken me for one of my sisters?"

I glared at her, she had no choice but to agree.

"Apologies mistress, I was mistaken."

Her eyes gleamed though, as though she said, okay, I will play along with this for now, event hoguh I know the truth.

I got out of the bedroom as soon as I could and ran through the busy streets.

The door was open so anyone could just waltz in, honestly do men have nothing in their heads? Well… nothing apart from the obvious?

I walked through the house and out into the small garden, where I could hear the excited shoutings of most of Aegyptus' sons.

I stood their, scanning the grass for Lynceus, when I saw him.

He had let his hair grow longer, and it hung over his eyes now. It looked good, well, as much as I hated to say it, HE looked good, and he knew it, it was advertised in the way he walked and in his eyes. It said, 'look at me, I am gorgeous, feel free to faint at my feet, worship me or anything else.'

But, I had been without human contact for so long, I was glad to see anyone. I ran up to him and jumped on him. He could hold my weight for a few seconds, but not any longer and he fell backwards, and landed on the floor.

"Hello, long time no see."

"Nice hello, were you actually trying to paralyse me?"

"What do you think?"

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, did Eros tell you?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Bet he missed out the bit where he was praying to Zeus for a miracle and crying because the water was dirty."

We laughed and got to our feet. In the mayhem that was Lynceus' family, we stood there unnoticed, but it would only be like that for a while.

I stood very self-consciously while he looked at me.

There really was not anything to look at. My stepmother had destroyed my old clothes, so now I had new ones, end of story.

I had changed from the clothes that I had travelled in, to a short top with half-length sleeves, and a pair of crop trousers, my stepmother does not know about the crop trousers, I decided that if I had to have new clothes, well, at least some of them I would like.

They was vivid green and I had embroidered (very badly) purple flowers all over it in a random pattern. It was painful to look at my clothes without wincing.

"Have I lost an arm or leg and this is why I am suddenly so interesting, or are you trying to count every hair on my head?"

"No," He smirked and looked at me, "What's a matter? Did you buy new clothes for me? I'm flattered, I really am. I find youvery interesting now thatI've finally seen that other piercing that you were telling me about."

He meant the belly-button piercing I had, that was now showing just underneath my top.

"My stepmother bought them and burned my other clothes. What's a matter with the hair? Decided that you're just so ugly, you don't want to look at yourself, so you grew your hair to hang over your eyes?" There was no way on this earth that I would let him know he looked really good, his head or ego did not need to be enlarged.

I pushed him and we walked out of the house together. He was going to give in his name to enter the competition, so while he waited in a queue that stretched almost back to my home, I walked around, looking at the stalls.

I walked off of the paved road and came upon a little place where I could eat the lunch that I'd bought for myself.

I sat on the grass, and as soon as I had finished eating a soft whisper called me from the ground where I was sat to three trees up ahead.

"Come, come to us."

It may have been stupid, but I got up and followed the whispers. As I walked, three women appeared in front of me. They were older than time itself and twice as canny and wrinkled; any blessing received from them was bound to end up as a curse. One was small and fat, the second neither short nor tall, fat or thin, and the third was taller and thinner than me.

"See I the past, of things long forgot,"

"See I the present, the here and the now,"

"See I the future, of things yet to come."

The tallest one bent over to look me in the eye, it was unnerving to see their one eye, moving around, trying to hold me in it's grasp. She smiled

"My child, you have my gift."

The other crones smiled and together said,

"Child of one, child of all. Child of mine."

"I see." The fat one grabbed the eye.

"Unwanted."

"I see." The middle hag grabbed the eye.

"Loved."

"I see." The thin one grasped the eye.

"Loves."

As the eye passed from one hand to another and their chanting and mutterings surrounded me in a wave of confusion.

"Daughter."

"Lover."

"Mother."

"What she was."

"What she is."

"What she will become."

"Wait a minute, let me catch up, who said anything about love? How can he love me properly after knowing me for such a short time? What is love anyway? Just a feeling some stupid people have. And who said anything about children or me becoming a mother, would I even be a good mother? How would I know what to do with it? What if I accidentally killed it or something?"

I gasped for breath as I finished babbling.

The hags laughed and cackled.

"I think."

"I know."

"She should find out."

"Find out what?"

"We," they said simultaneously, "have a gift for you."

"What?"

"See through another's eyes,"

"Feel through another's skin,"

"Love through another's heart,"

"See," they finished, "through another's eyes."

One by one, they lifted their palms and softly blew a fine powder over me. I blinked for a second, but that was all it had taken for me to be carried away from this world, and taken to another.

I opened my eyes. Looking at my hands I could tell they were not mine, they were much too big. There were two rings on the fingers, one with my family crest on it, and another with my nightingale on it, a purple flower and a manically grinning wolf, which at first I didn't understand.

This wasn't my body, that was clear, but if it wasn't mine, whose was it? The person who I was in scratched his neck, his fingers tangling in the necklace around his neck. The onyx necklace.

Mentally I was scared, mentally I screamed, I was in Lynceus' body in the future. This whole scenario was wrong, very bad and weird. The mad grinning wolf was his.

Not only was I no longer a girl, but I was Lynceus, how would I get out? What if he did something completely gross when I was inside his mind?

I, or rather, he, turned and leaned on his arms looking out of the balcony onto the lawns in front of him. I didn't recognise any of these lands. Where was he?

I cursed the witches, the old hags, playing with my life. This was their gift? To end up as my fiancé? I would hate to know what one of their curses would be like.

As I watched through his eyes, a young woman walked underneath him, under the balcony. Holding hands with her was a small boy.

Mentally, because remember this was not my body so I could not change or move anything, I had a heart attack.

The young woman was me. I was sitting on a seat with the boy on my knee, this boy, the child, was mine, was mine and Lynceus.

I stared through his eyes as the boy laughed and his green eyes shone with laughter. He had my eyes, my eyes! He had Lynceus' short curly hair, but he was tiny, so small. I watched myself as I stroked his hair and talked with him.

As we, me and Lynceus, watched, I felt everything that he felt. All the love in his heart for me I felt. It was strange feeling this love for myself, his heart was full to the brim with it.

_How_ I wondered_ could anyone feel so much love without their hearts bursting?_

So... this was love, this feeling inside of Lynceus. I know that without a doubt he, at that moment, would have been prepared to kill himself if I had asked for it, or anyone if theyhad threatened me.

I was so surprised, to find that there was even more room in there, for the love he had for his son. So much love there, for both of us. He loved our son in ways that I had never been.

Our son, my baby, our creation was loved so much.

I asked myself there and then, how could I ever love Lynceus as much as he loved me at that moment?

That must have been a good question for as soon as I asked myself it Lynceus blinked and I was wrenched from that loving world into my own. The ground spun and I felt very unwell, I wondered whether I really had recovered from the illness.

The hags had gone, probably scared of my reaction to them sending me into a man's body, I dread to think about what they might actually think about usually, if they thoguht a gift, a bleesing was to send a girl into a boy's body.

In their place were three, little gifts. One from the future, one from the present and one from the past.

A tiny little rag doll, hand made by me, I had given up searching for it years ago. _A thing long forgot._

A tiny necklace with three small circles on, saying 'see through another's eyes', 'love through another's heart' and 'feel through another's skin.' _A symbol of the here and the now. _

A small wooden carving of a woman with her little son on her knee. It was me, and my son. _A thing that was yet to come._

I staggered out and winced at the sunlight. It was too bright after the shade of the trees.

I sat down and scanned the crowds for Lynceus, couldn't see him.

Instead of seeing Lynceus I saw Zeus, God almighty, invisible to ordinary mortals, but trying to practise his throwing. He took a thunderbolt, bent it and threw it.

Unfortunately he had bent the thing too much and it acted as a boomerang, spinning round a tree and returning to him. Unfortunately he was too busy staring at a young girl to notice his mistake and it hit him on his head. With a glance to make sure no one had seen him, he saw me sitting down, laughing my head off.

With a glance to where Lynceus was and a threatening gesture with his hands, he warned me off laughing. I responded with a point to my wedding finger and an imitation of talking, I then pointed to the woman he had been staring at. Meaning that I would tell his wife if he harmed Lynceus.

We came to a truce and he became visible in all his glory to the rest of the human population. He shone golden in the sunlight and women crowded around him, vying for his attention. My sisters made up at least of half of them. However, sadly, they failed to hold his attention and he told them to go away in less polite terms.

I wandered up to Lynceus, who took one look at me and dragged me home insisting that I was still ill. He missed out on the competition to take me home despite me telling him I was fine.

Then next day I stayed in bed again. I hate my bed, I hate sleep. I detest illness.

I kept the gifts from the fates though, not many can say that they came upon them and survived uncursed and whole.

As for Lynceus, well, we had great fun watching my sisters try their many talents at trying to seduce Zeus and many other Gods. I spent a lot of time looking at him, remembering how much our son had looked like him. My sisters were finally stopped by a sharp look off Hera, and a warning of her wrath.

3003 words, was it worth it?

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 2000 words a go.


	14. Two in a Million

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD! **I also have my own forum now as well have a look at it, it's mostly an excuse for an argument or discussion about random things.**

**What did u lot all think about my last chapter? Tell me what u thought, I can handle constructive criticism.**

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

_Father, mother, son. Father, mother, son. Father, mother, son. Father, mother, son._

My eyes flew wide-open, savouring release. The sun kissed my screwed-up eyes open and the gentle wind stroked my burning cheeks. I lay, curled into a protective ball, still on the floor. I had fallen out of bed again. My bed coverings, blankets and such, lay twisted into snakes, writhing on the bed, and many more lay beneath me on the floor. I had tossed and turned for a long time before landing on the floor this night.

I touched my cheek; wet with tears I could not remember shedding. I sighed and cursed. Almost every night now for months, I had been having these dreams. They were as different from the visions of my son as lemon juice is from sugar. Rather than a new life and love, I was being shown glimpses of a country, my country, as it fought amongst itself, over who would rule it. Because my sisters, Lynceus, his brothers and I were all dead, no heir, what could kill one hundred people? The ruler was my father, and he was dying, weak and unable to keep his hold onto his country, and civil war was plainly evident as I watched neighbours kill and torture neighbours.

After being shown this living hell I would then be dragged to a place where there was nothing but blackness. A bitter taste burnt my mouth, and breathing was hard. I could feel my body shaking as wave after wave of convulsions ransacked my thin frame. The darkness grew, if it was possible, but as it grew, all I could see was a tall, hooded figure, shining white. A God, my wasted body said as I struggled to open my eyes, movement after the convulsions was impossible.

He came nearer and I saw it was Hades. Was I dead? His eyes filed with dreaded pity as he looked upon me.

"None of us saw this. This was not foreseen, how could this have happened without our knowing?"

He stroked my hair and spoke softly to me.

"Friend of all immortals, Nestra, the Gods have looked upon you and protected you. This day, you I will not take. Your soul is safe. Live, live and sing, for all those who will never hear your voice again."

I couldn't open my mouth and I was too weak to look much longer at him, but I screamed at him mentally.

"God of Death, Gatherer of Souls, Hades, who will not live? Who have you taken? Who that I love have you stolen from me?"

He shook his head sadly at me, regretfully, his grey eyes darkening in sadness.

"I cannot say who."

As he left me lying there, his whisper reached me.

"Father, mother, son. Father, mother, son."

I screamed and that was the point of which I usually woke. The image of the grim and stern Hades feeling pity for me. The vision of him as a caring shepherd; gathering up all of his lost souls as gently as one picks up a child, shimmering. It was burnt into my mind.

Gingerly I got to my feet, my hand shaking. I cursed again, after all, what good was a mouth if you couldn't use it every now and then with profanities?

This day was my eighteenth birthday. What a perfect beginning it had been.

I refused to stay at home with them this year and listen as they ignored my birthday. A smile that didn't quite reach my eyes curved my lips as I wondered what Lynceus had got me. He had spent the spring in Egypt, visiting a distant relative noble with his brothers, learning how to become a wise and just leader. They had offered to take me along with them, and I had been greatly tempted. But spending months in the same house with Lynceus was just like dangling temptation in front of him. I worried what he would do in the name of honour to protect me from himself; I also worried what would happen if he, at some time, gave into temptation, and whether or not I would be strong enough to stop him if he did. Or, even more shocking and I apologise of thinking this, but I couldn't help it, whether or not I would have wanted to stop him!

My father was still blissfully unaware about us as was my stepmother I hope. But just recently she keeps throwing me strange looks when I brush my hair before going out, or when I sing because I am happy. Honestly, the way she acts you'd think she's never seen me brush my hair before, I was almost insulted by her glances!

My maid, I avoid as much as possible, I fear that she meant me a great insult when she chose, after Olympeia to be transferred to serve my father, I fear she serves him in ways that she never served me, and I feel sorry for her, I know it will all end badly.

Lynceus missed this year's Olympeia, being in Egypt, and he wasn't able to enter to last year's as he spent the day with me, making sure I was all right after my vision, so his entry was too late. He wasn't sad though, I kept up a running commentary all throughout the Games, mainly describing what the Gods were doing, which man Aphrodite was going to sleep with that day, and which God was doing something they shouldn't be, after all, invisible or visible, you never know who might have been watching!

I jumped out of the window and swung on a branch. Don't worry about me, in a year I have not changed that much. Rather than it being Artemis I landed on, I sat on Eros.

He shrieked, but didn't manage to vanish in time, and afterwards stood and looked down at me as if to say, 'will you ever change?'

The answer to that, dear readers, is never, never in a million years, Hell would freeze over before I change my ways!

"Your dreams, darling, are not only disturbing me, but they are disturbing my beauty sleep as well."

"What?" I really did not want to know that he knew about my dreams, how long had he been sharing them with me?

He smirked and his dark brown eyes shone with mischief.

"Don't worry princess, not those dreams about a certain some one, the ones where my mouth burns and Hades calls me Nestra, how can he mistake me for you? I'm much better looking?"

I laughed.

"How long have we been dream-sharing?"

"Long enough to see things that make even me blush. I really didn't know you thought about things like that Ness."

"Shut up. You know I haven't been dreaming about Lynceus. Pervert!"

His face paused in his mischief and he sat down next to me, serious for a few precious minutes.

"Artemis has them too, and lover-boy."

"Does he know what they mean?"

"No, all he hears is you screaming about losing people you love, and Hades saying father, mother, son."

"Why can he hear my dreams?"

"Isn't it obvious, even to you?"

"… Oh…" My mind flashed back to the day when I had literally shared his body, heart and mind.

"I'm sorry that your birthday began like this darling. Lynceus isn't too happy either, he was convinced that you were dead, you look it though."

"Charming."

"How are your delightful family this morning? Have the sisters recovered from being turned into pigs?"

At the Olympeia just gone, not the one last year, my sisters chose again to ignore Hera's warnings and flirted obviously and repeatedly with Zeus. Hera recognised them from last year and chose to unfortunately spare their lives, but turned them all into pigs for a week. It seems that only I, with my wicked sense of humour, found the event funny.

It serves me right for getting my hopes up, oh well; maybe I could persuade Hera to turn them permanently into pigs next time.

"Are you coming to Lynceus' with me?" I said as he got to his feet and turned away. I thought he would do, if only to tease and wind me up about him.

"I'll walk you there, but I'm not going in with you. You'll find out why when you get there. You have a very special man there Ness, don't, for Zeus' sake, do anything stupid and lose him."

This puzzled me and I tried futilely, using many various methods of torture, such as tickling him and throwing mud at him, to get more information. I knew that Eros liked Lynceus, I mean they were two of a kind, but why was he giving me love advice when he had even less of an idea what love was that I did?

He vanished with a whispered good luck as I walked into the gardens.

Before being able to look around and find Lynceus, I was accosted by a man. Aegyptus.

He pushed me over to a corner where all fifty of my brothers were waiting. Thankfully they did not jump on me as they usually do to Lynceus. But they all gathered around me, hugging me, and wishing me a happy day.

I was overwhelmed by them all and couldn't speak. I had never had a party before.

Lynceus materialised.

"Returning the party you threw me for my nineteenth."

He grinned, relief evident on his face.

"You don't know how worried I was, from that dream I had I could have sworn you were dead."

"Luckily for you I am not, after all, if I was dead, who would insult you and keep your head from swelling up, your brothers worship the ground you walk on. Some one has to tell you the truth."

"And what truth is that?"

"That you're not really handsome or charming, it's just an illusion that your father made for you, if he breaks it, you won't know how to cope."

"You look a little…" He was struggling for the right word to say without insulting me. I gave him a hand.

"Eros said I looked like death, charming but true."

With a bold and exaggerated flourish, he handed me a bouquet of flowers, my favourite flowers. The purple flowers of love.

"Artemis told me."

I grinned, this time the smile reached my eyes.

"What's a matter, is this why you look nervous? Did you steal these from my stepmother's garden? Too cheap to buy some, you'd rather take mine and pass them off as yours? I thought I saw you scurrying about, looking shifty down there yesterday."

"He just thought yours were so good, other's just couldn't compete." Proteus joined in.

"More likely he couldn't find any others for such a good price as he found mine."

We laughed together.

"Hold out your hands and close your eyes."

We did this all the time now, it was a tradition. When receiving a present one would hold out your hands and close your eyes.

I complied.

Rather than putting the present into my hands, he fiddled with my ears and told me to keep still and my eyes closed.

I reached up and touched my ear, earrings again. This time they were loops.

I took one of them out and looked at it. It was thick and made of amethyst, with tiny little flowers carved into it.

"Thank you, they're beautiful."

He smiled, full of mischief like Eros, I think that they have been spending too much time together and that Eros is getting to be a bad influence on Lynceus.

"That's not the end of it yet you know. But I'll give you the other one later on."

"Why later on, why not now?"

"Because I'm giving you the present and I say I'll give it to you later."

"What is it; it must be something you don't want your father to see? I swear if you have got me something vulgar for my eighteenth birthday, I will kill you."

"It's something I don't want anyone to see yet, and Eros is right about the things you think about, Nestra, I'm shocked, would I ever get you anything like that?"

"Yes," I said, glaring at him, "You would."

"She has your cards marked." His father said between laughing.

We mock argued all the way through lunch.

This time, I was seated opposite Lynceus, next to Aegyptus, in my rightful place, head of the family.

Aegyptus entertained his sons and me by telling us all the things Lynceus used to do as a little boy.

Lynceus hung his head in shame as Ageyptus told us all about the times he did embarrassing things, such as running about with no clothes on, and saying things at awkward times. Such as the time Aegyptus was meeting with ambassadors from Rome, and Lynceus climbed onto one of the officials' knee, fell promptly asleep and no amount of shaking could awaken him. When he did wake up, it was to thank the horrified man and to tell him that his moustache was itchy and looked funny.

Lynceus then told me that even now, the ambassador still remembers him and reminds him of it every time he visits.

After telling us all about Lynceus' child hood, my Uncle then went on to tell us about his. Times when he and my father played games together and pranks on one another.

From the regretful look in his eye and the wistful way he spoke, my uncle missed those times greatly, and missed his brother as well.

I was not going to tell him that his brother hated the ground he walked on, or about the things that Danaus called him. Some things are much too painful to be shared.

After eating, the dancing and festivity was under way. It was an early summer night, too hot for a bonfire, but not hot enough to be irritating.

I wanted to know what my present was so I badgered Lynceus all the time, hoping for him to slip up and tell me by accident. He just smirked and told me that patience is a virtue. Well, that it may be, but it is not one that I exercise regularly.

Finally he got annoyed with me constanly asking him and said,

"So, do you want it right here and now?"

I remembered the time when he had thrown me into the pond, asking me if I wanted to be put down, and how it had been a trap. Was it this time? I'd take my chances.

"Yes, so give it to me."

I dutifully closed my eyes and held out my hand, he laughed, I didn't know why.

He handed me something thin, and light. I opened my eyes and looked at it.

_Marry Me._

At first I didn't think and my mind went into a freeze, then I did, think that is. But it didn't matter anyway. I already knew the answer. But maybe, I could have some fun teasing him.

"I understand why you're nervous now. After all, what have I been saying to you for the last few years, I'm no one's possession, Lynceus, you know how I feel about marriage, what I say is just look at my father's, it's enough to put anyone off for life, you think ours would be any better?"

His face fell, and the ever calm, impossible to anger Lynceus, began to get mad, very mad his black eyes moved to a dark grey.. I wonder, was this what he looked like when he had threatened Alexander and the other people of my circle?

"You are an idiot." I said before he exploded. "Of course I'll marry you."

He yelled, picked me up and whirled me around. I shrieked and felt dizzy afterwards, but it was fun.

"I thought you were going to wait to ask me, wait until my youngest sisters was twelve and could marry."

"What's the point? I want to marry you and not them."

"Lynceus." His father came up behind us. "I had hoped that you would have waited for a more appropriate place, this isn't really the height of romance, is it son?"

He looked sorrowfully around at his other sons, all oblivious, fighting, shouting obscenities.

"I forced him, its all my fault, I couldn't wait, patience isn't really one of my virtues."

He smiled.

"I know you will be happy together."

I pulled Lynceus away for a minute.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"Can we keep this between the three of us for now, it's not that I don't want to marry you, I do, it's just…"

"Your father."

I nodded.

"Okay, I don't know the man and already I hate him."

"He doesn't really have a nice opinion of you either. I promise you I'll marry you. But for now, can it be our secret?"

"As long as you do marry me, I'll give you four months, then we'll announce it, you haven't asked me for your ring yet."

"You bought me a ring?"

"One often does when you want to marry some one."

He gave me his necklace, the one that I had given him, reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring. Undid the necklace and threaded the ring onto the chain, he then gave it to me.

"I'll expect it back when we're actually married."

I looked at the ring, it was big, with the same crest on it that I had seen on the ring Lynceus had worn in my vision, purple flowers, a songbird and a grinning wolf.

I raised my eyebrows up at the wolf.

"It's not my crest and it's not yours, it's our crest, to show that I don't care about your father or mine and any problems they had in the past, it's now that I'm interested in, you and me."

None of you know how special that birthday was to me, how precious. Not only was I now Lynceus' bride-to-be, but then again I had know that for years, ever since he had told me. But I had proof now, the ring around my neck, the tie around my heart that was slowly, but surely dragging me closer and closer to Lynceus.

I have the most horrible feeling that he had been planning this ever since I had hit him five years ago, the most fitting revenge, to make me fall in love with the one person I had hated.

As Eros said, he is one of a kind, and I am not as stupid to let him slip through my fingers as easily as butter. But then again, as I am sure you will agree, I'm not that common-place myself. But, as his father said, I am totally sure that we are perfect for each other, I will tease him and wind him up and irritate him for the rest of his life, and he, well, he will do just the same to me.

**3, 188 words! Yeah! By the way, message to demented-dreamer, and every one else who think writing this much tortures me, thanks for your concern over my health, its just I look at the computer expecting 5,000 words, but the computer then tells me it's only 1,500. Me and the word count tool do not get on too well.** Anyone notice what Nestra called Lynceus' brothers after she found out they had planned a party for her?

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 2000 words a go.


	15. Cinderella's Ball

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD! **I also have my own forum now as well have a look at it, it's mostly an excuse for an argument or discussion about random things.**

**What did u lot all think about my last chapter? Tell me what u thought, I can handle constructive criticism. MORE IMPORTANTLY WHAT DO U THINK OF THIS CHAPTER, HAVE I SET IT ON FIRE WITH MY BRILLIANT WRITING SKILLS OR DOES IT STINK?**

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

_I thought I knew what love was _

_But these lovers play new music!  
Haunting me,  
And somehow taunting me  
My love was never half as true.  
And I ask myself,  
Why can't I sing it too? _

You and your music  
Singing deep in me,  
Making nice to me,  
Saying something so new  
Changing everything,  
Meaning everything,

Play that melody,  
Your sweet melody,  
Calling my heart to you.

Just like that tune,  
Simple and clear,  
I've come to hear  
New music-  
Breaking my heart,  
Op'ning a door,  
Changing the world!  
New music!  
I'll hear it forevermore!

_**I LOVE THIS SONG, SOOOOOO MUCH, NEW MUSIC FROM THE MUSICAL, SORRY, HOPELESS ROMANTIC.**_

Time, the one thing humanity had too little of and the one thing that I wanted to have, but sadly did not. Yes, you got it, it was now five months after Lynceus proposed and I was still sat on the fence.

But time, where I was at the moment, was irrelevant, after all heaven commanded time, just as immortals commanded the live of mortals in that never ending game of chess that was life. So heaven was where I was at the moment.

Not to be gushy or simpering or one of those heroines that only has to look at the hero to swoon, but its just at the moment I am talking about I had never been so happy, save that time when I had nearly broken Prince Charming's nose!

We sat under an orange tree, the leaves shading us from the dull glare of the sun. He was stretched out, propped up against the thin trunk, his longs legs lying lazily on the ground.

He was stroking my hair, which he had unravelled again; my head lay on his lap. I was lying slightly curled up in his direction, looking up at him. How, you ask me now, could this be anything but heaven?

"You've cut your hair." He said softly, not wanting to destroy the peace. For we had finally found a day where I was neither plagued by my immortal chaperons, and he not followed by brothers his father had sent to spy on us.

"I've been cutting a little off it every week, so no one will notice. I've only been doing it for a month, how did you notice, it is obvious?"

"No, its not obvious, I just noticed it, you know how much I love your hair."

I smiled up at him and he leaned down and kissed me. The he sat up, turned me around and started to braid my hair into tiny plaits close to my head.

"You know, you're better at doing my hair than I am. Not fair."

The ring around my neck was tangled up in the necklace my father had given me to brand me as 'his.' I took a deep breath, told myself that I had never been my father's girl and that if I had to be anyone's, being Lynceus' was not really that bad. I unhooked the necklace and slipped it off my head. My ring with my family crest on was heavy on my fingers, it really needed to be taken off, it no longer belonged to me.

I slipped the ring off my finger and slid in onto the thin gold chain.

"I know you've got a matching ring to the one you gave me, but I don't need this anymore, and I've no one but you to give it to."

He slipped it round his neck, the gold 'D' shone in the light.

I looped my arms around his neck and rested my head on his shoulder.

"You do realise that you're now mine, I've branded you."

He smiled.

"You, are a month overdrawn. You promised me."

"I know. But I really don't want to have to marry Eros or something if my father kills you. Eros snores."

"You haven't found out yet whether I do or not."

"Maybe, but I don't like Eros and I don't want to marry him."

"You're coming to the ball tomorrow night aren't you?"

"Yes, everyone is, why?"

"I'm coming too, I'll see you there."

The ball was a neighbouring King's excuse for a party. It was his tenth year as King, so all the nobles with land near him were invited.

"You always see me at parties, we just ignore each other."

"Maybe I'll find you more interesting this time."

"And maybe my father will die of shock if you do and make things a whole lot easier. I have never accepted anyone's offer to dance; maybe you'll get lucky tomorrow."

I laughed and grabbed the back of head to bring him down to kiss me. His surprised expression changed to something that resembled that infuriating smirk. I had never kissed him before, always the other way round.

He brought me closer to him and wrapped his arms around my waist.

Standing up he brought me with him, still locked together with my arms around his neck.

Fire burned.

He stretched upwards, grabbed an orange and pelted me with it.

"You," he said from behind me, kissing my ears, "Are just a tease."

I grinned and darted out of his grasp.

"You know you love it."

I ran from him, daring him to catch me. In the end, surrender or conquest, who can tell? It was just as sweet for me either way.

* * *

Critically I glared at my reflection in the polished silver that was my mirror. I knew that I would never be a beautiful breath-taking creature, but couldn't my appearance co-operate just for once?

I was skinny, but that could not be helped, I ate enough to make the thinnest person obese, I was tall, but I liked myself that way. My hair was a mass of fizz that I was going to make a massive effort to tame.

Drenching myself in water, I grabbed a silver comb and pulled it through my hair. Locked in a battle of wit and strength who would be the victor? By the end of my violent attentions I had pulled out more than a considerable chunk of hair and my head felt as if it was on fire. I stood in the bath and put a sweet-smelling oil on my head. A way-side witch had assured my that it would leave my hair as straight as a pin, as long as I brushed it through with a comb, left it for ten minutes and then washed it off. While waiting I got out the dress I was going to wear.

Flaming red, it contrasted violently with my green eyes. Thin, gossamer material that clung to me. I sighed with dismay, not that it had anything to cling to. I was flat and skinny everywhere.

I washed off the oil and patted my hair dry gently. I stood in front of the mirror again, and then called myself several kinds of idiot. I had sworn to myself years ago that I would never behave this way, not for anyone or any man, and now, I was doing the very thing that I hated to see my sisters do. By the way I kept looking in the mirror you are bound to think that I was turning into them.

I gritted my teeth, turned the mirror over so I could not look into it and got dressed. Then I swore.

I had not seen this… thing… this monstrosity… Artemis had answered my pleas by getting it for me. She had assured me that it was lovely, fine and would suit me perfectly.

What she had not mentioned was that a good portion of my legs was on display and that every time I walked even more of them was revealed.

Another thing she had not mentioned was that sure it wasn't low cut, but it was a dress meant to be worn off the shoulder.

I suddenly decided to kill Artemis.

Goddess or not she would die, and I would kill her.

This dress was the only thing half-decent to wear to a ball that I had, if I changed to another dress then I would shame my family and myself.

I swore again.

"Such language coming from the mouth of a Princess!"

I screamed, behind me, lounging on the wall was Eros. Behind him was Artemis.

"How long have you been there?"

"Long enough for my eyes to have shrivelled and been burnt out and for me to have seen things that have mentally scarred me."

I scowled and Artemis hit him.

"We've only been here a short while."

"First of all who cut your hair, it's a wonky line, second, stop glaring at Artemis like that kill her later, we've got to get you ready now, there's no time."

"I cut my hair and it doesn't need you messing about with it."

"Yes darling it does."

"I don't need any help form you."

"If you want to give your father a heart attack and make him die of shock you will." Artemis smiled at me.

"And giving him a heart-attack is our aim for the day."

I sat down and let him mess about with my hair. He started to cut large chunks off and soon there was a pile of my hair on the floor. I grew very uneasy and nervous; surely my hair had not been as wonky as that?

Artemis took over from where Eros left off, she pinned back one side and left the other side swinging down free. The front bit of my hair now hung over my eyes, almost a fringe, but just a little bit longer.

As for subtly introducing everyone to my shorter hair by gradually cutting it each week, he had simply gone from A to C without passing through B, he had chopped it off at shoulder length, just a little shorter than what it had been before, which was just above my waist, sorry for the sarcasm, but I was shocked.

I decided that I would no longer worry; surely anything would be better than what it had been before?

Artemis added a slashing red colour to my lips and was going to outline my eyes in black, but I reminded her that I did not want to look like my sisters.

Eros stood up and grinned.

"You know, if you weren't my sister and if I hadn't seen first hand what Zeus and Hera's relationship is like, I would really consider fighting Lynceus for you."

"I look that bad?"

"Go out there and shock them, and don't forget, if your father kneels over from shock, don't call for a physician."

I slipped on red sandals and ran through my stepmother's garden. The plants had all grown in the two years since the floods. I snapped a red hibiscus and put it behind one ear.

As I walked the material shimmered and the bracelets round my wrists made a soft clanking noise.

Wrapping my cloak around me and bringing all my things, for we were to stay there for a week, I walked out and jumped onto the litter that would transport me to the palace where the party was being held. No one saw me, as my father was too interested in the serving girl, my sisters in themselves and my stepmother glaring and shrieking at her husband.

When I arrived I held the cloak around me tightly, no one was to see what I looked like just yet, I had to get used to it first.

My sisters eyed me with barely disguised malice, and turned their noses up at the cloak I was wearing. I walked with them up to the steps where I would be presented first then Gorgophone and then the next oldest and so on.

"Is the ugly duckling too scared to show herself, scared?"

I walked in front of her and stopped to take off the cloak and give it to the servant with a whispered thanks.

As they announced my name, I knew that everyone was in the room and that we were the last family to be announced. That meant that somewhere in the room was Lynceus.

I walked forward into the room and everyone went silent.

Never mind giving my father who was in front of me a heart attack, I was nearly paralysed in shock. The room had gone silent because of me.

My father turned slowly and in that moment, I looked at my self in the mirror.

Zeus bless those Gods for they had literally worked a miracle on me.

I am not saying that I was suddenly beautiful, because I was not, nor was I pretty, that is such a bland word, I prefer shocking. I stood out like a drop of blood on pure white linen.

My hair was straight, I had a side parting and my eyes gleamed.

At the bottom of the stairs stood Lynceus, waiting for me like he always did.

He looked at me in such a way, from the top of my head and the bottom of my sandals that I wondered whether he would just come up to me, drag me out the room and into his bedroom right in front of everyone.

After that he smirked eyes gleaming as usual, lifted his glass and toasted me. Before going lest anyone notice him, his hand touched his heart in a fast gesture that no one else would see. Meaning: I'd stolen his heart.

What infuriated me was that although he looked amazed, he was not surprised or even shocked, he knew what I would look like, to prove my case even more, the only person wearing red apart form myself was… well, you've guessed it, Lynceus.

I thought that dress had been very unlike Artemis. Now I knew who had given it to her.

I was so mad, but I could hardly walk up to him and tell him that, not with my father looking at me like I had just walked off a separate planet.

I had to sit down and wait for him to ask me to dance. As the songs passed and I grew more and more bored by random men coming up to me and asking my name, men that knew me from previous parties.

It had come to the last dance and the host, who was very drunk by now, chose the dance. He chose the most inappropriate one he could, being drunk.

The sort of dance only married couples dance to and that would ruin the reputation of a girl if she danced it. It was that bad that even my sisters had never danced it, but I know that secretly all of them hoped for the day that they would be asked to.

I knew that movements by heart, as I had sat through many nights watched lovers dance it. My step mother rather pointedly gestured to the dance floor and said,

"Well aren't you going to ask me?"

"Not," My father replied, "When you look as fat as a boar."

My stepmother as you could have guessed from the comparison was pregnant again. I really don't want to think about what they must do in their spare time to end up with 50 daughters and another on the way. It is sick.

As you will have guessed, as soon as that music started Lynceus made his way over to our table, grabbed my wrist and dragged me out onto the dance floor without so much as a 'it would give me pleasure if you danced with me' or even a simple 'dance with me.'

I glared at him.

"You look lovely."

"I wish I could reciprocate, but I am glad to tell you that you look just as arrogant and pig headed as you usually do. Only tonight you remind me of a horse's ass."

"What have I done to gain such a lovely comparison?"

"You gave Artemis this dress didn't you, because you knew if you gave it to me that I would rip it to sheds and refuse to wear it."

"I think you look nice in the dress."

"I think that I look like my sisters, and I think that you should mind your own business, I can chose my own dress."

"I thought you asked Artemis to chose it for you."

I ignored him and went to the opposite side of the room.

The sultry music began and I soon started to wonder why I was dancing in this.

Slowly, the men on one side and the women on the other began to move. My actions mirrored Lynceus' and visa versa. I couldn't believe that I was doing this.

We wound in and out of the people next to us, if I had been doing it correctly, like the woman next to me my eyes would be locked onto Lynceus' as if there was no one else in the room but him and me. As it was, I stared at the floor. I just knew that if I looked up I would blush.

We moved closer to the middle, and towards each other. I say this again, I just couldn't believe I was doing this, and decided it was a dream, so I could do anything, because I'd just wake up.

He had tied his hair off his face, now I understood why half the men in the room was throwing daggers at him and half the women lusting after him.

He grabbed my wrist and looped it over his head, bringing my back into contact with his chest. That contact reassured me that this was no dream, it was real and I was dancing with him.

I lay one hand on his shoulder and in a defiant mood that needed no copying from the other women, I pushed away from him, but his grip on my wrist stopped me form getting too far away.

I was too late in looking down, all I could see was the blackness of his eyes and from then onwards, all I saw was Lynceus, no one else.

Holding my hand, palms together we walked a while, before he spun me around and brought me closer again.

Ignoring the moves of the dance he ran his fingers through my now short hair.

"I love your hair like this, it suits you."

"What are you doing? This isn't part of the dance, a dance we shouldn't even be dancing."

"Improvising."

Deciding to improvise right back I reached up, watching his eyes widen, wondering what I was going to do. I tugged his hair out, watching it fall back round his face. If the women in the room had been merely lusting after him before, they were now throwing their underwear at him, it was that bad.

He ran his hand down my face in a way that gave me shivers I would never tell HIM about, and I glared at him, that wasn't part of the dance either. I tugged hard on his hair, he got the message.

Everyone in the room went silent, watching the lovers in red dance, the musicians had stopped, and my father truly looked as if he had died, his face ashen as he recognised me, my half sisters green with envy and my stepmother too. The women and men who had danced on either side of me sat on the floor, watching us.

Our clothes were red but together, we set the hall on fire.

I wish you could have seen it as it was.

I pulled away from him and marched down the hall, away from him. He followed me, grabbing my shoulder to spin me around to face him. His arms altogether too tight around my waist and my hand on his shoulder, we spun and moved together in perfect harmony for what seemed to be hours.

How glorious it was, to be dancing this forbidden dance in a room filled with people who were looking at us in undisguised jealousy. I knew that later I would have to pay for breaking societies rules, but now I had never felt so alive.

The dance ended with me leaned back in his arms and him looking at me as if I were the most beautiful woman in the world. It was not an all-together bad feeling to have.

The room collapsed in shaky applause as if they wondered whether to clap or not.

I gasped for breath and stood there with him breathing heavily.

"Have I told you yet how great you look?"

"You can tell me again if you want."

I grinned at him and we made our escape from the hall while the rest of the people erupted with shocked noise, at the scandal we had caused.

I will say again, truly and honestly, together… we set the room on fire, in fact, thinking about, we set the world on fire.

I think, certainly, many people will be talking about the show we did for a long time.

Me, well, I had never felt as different that night as I did dancing in his arms.

_You and your music  
Singing deep in me,  
Making nice to me,  
Saying something so new  
Changing everything,  
Meaning everything,_

REPEAT, WAS IT GOOD, DID I DO A GOOD JOB ON THIS, OR WAS IT RUBBISH? WORD COUNT: 3, 557 WORDS!_  
_

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 2000 words a go.


	16. The Insane, The Mad and The Forsaken

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD! **I also have my own forum now as well have a look at it, it's mostly an excuse for an argument or discussion about random things.**

**Note to:**

ChatboxDana (): thankyou for your encouraging review, do you really think I could publish it?

SakK: you've been with me since the beginning, thankyou so much, I appreciate very review

1madcat: what can I say, except, still predicting your future!

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

I could not sleep; the hour was late, the sky dark and the moon full and shining. For once none of the immortals had come to talk to me.

The look on my father's face had indicated that at the very least a stoke was in store for him, but sadly, he was still alive. Why the three fates could not have granted me his death and cut short his lifeline rather than give that bizarre vision I do not know. Or is that thought cruel and heartless? It is so confusing sometimes, to think of my father. The way he treated my mother and me, the way he treats his wife.

I had to slip out, to at least be outside and take my thoughts away from this conflict.

I wandered outside until I could see pale patches appearing on the sky. I yawned, maybe now, I thought, I would be able to sleep.

But then thoughts of what happened to me when I slept crept into my mind, the visions of civil war, the convulsions, the maddening sense of being given a clue, a hint that I could not understand or work out.

That dissuaded me from thinking about going to sleep. I did not want to ruin what had been such an extraordinary night with the living hell that no doubt I would share with Lynceus, Eros or Artemis, if I stayed awake at least they would sleep peacefully.

My stepmother saw me as I came upstairs to get ready. She had been kicked out their room to pave the way for a slave girl.

"You stupid girl."

"Why am I stupid? For dancing with my betrothed?"

"For letting him see you together."

She looked at me in disgust.

"I thought you were meant to be clever girl." She spat the words at me, "But obviously not."

"We have done nothing wrong, why should we hide ourselves?"

"Because you silly girl, he will never let you wed each other, and showing how much you like him makes him more mad, more set on revenge on ruining things. You young people, thinking that you're in love, it never end up as you'd like it to, it always goes wrong, love is nothing but heartache."

She scowled at me with tear glistening in her eyes and went on her way, leaving me behind after repeating the words, 'He will never let you marry and will do anything to prevent that from happening."

I scowled and frowned, that felt like another clue that I was being given but was still unable to divine any meaning from. What was wrong with me that I could not work out meaning from this mess that as my life?

I wandered around some more, then decided that I had been too kind letting Lynceus sleep and decided to wake him up, I would have some company to puzzle this out with and he would get part of his punishment for giving me that dress.

Although, and I am not saying this to anyone but you readers, after I got used to wearing it, it was not quite as bad as I made out. Nevertheless, as I said, I would never tell that to anyone but you.

I banged on his door when he answered with a growl of 'who-ever that is go away and leave me alone,' I banged even louder and shouted through the door at him.

He opened the door. Saw me and the expression on my face and said,

"Oh, it's you."

Then do you know what he did? He slammed the door in my face and told me to come back in eight hours time.

I banged on his door for a few more minutes and he finally opened it.

I dragged him out the room before he could close the door on me again.

"What do you want? Me?" He said with the smirk that I am coming to believe is forever on his face when I am near him.

"As if." I responded with a raised eyebrow and a sarcastic tone which left little to the imagination about what I wanted, meaning, I wanted to kill him, or something that was preferably him.

We walked as I told him everything, the maid who somehow seemed more than a maid, my stepmother, my father's wrath, everything except about my visions and what I had seen; my sisters thought I was a freak, I did not want him thinking the same. Instead, I told him that it had been Artemis who had seen the visions in her sleep; and that she had told me about them.

Before you ask whether I told him about being pregnant and waking up in his bed with him sleeping next to me, or about being him, no, they were only things that I kept from him.

He turned around, as puzzled as I was.

"I don't know what to think."

"Me neither."

I looked up from the balcony on which we stood, such a perfect night for such horrible thoughts about my father dying and what my visions could mean.

"It was a good night."

"We danced well considering that we had never danced together before."

Well was an inadequate word to describe how it had felt to dance with him, but it was the only word I could find, and the only one that would not cause him to become even more arrogant than normal.

"Dance with me again."

"Only," I said trying to sound harsh, but it was slowly becoming hard for me to be properly mad with him, "If you promise me that you will not try to dress me again, I want to be able to control my own life."

He smiled, "You know, before you stared glowering at me and scowling you looked nice, beautiful in the dress that I had chosen for you."

I touched my hair; it was beginning to curl again, the potion as losing its strength. I sighed, back to mad hair in the morning, or was it morning already?

"Dance with me."

"Only if you ask me properly, you just dragged me off before."

"It would give me the greatest pleasure if you would do me to honour of dancing with me my lady." He bowed and I was unsure whether he was making fun of me or was serious. He was getting just a little too much like Eros to be safe

I curtsied in my best regal style, deep to the ground, with my knees almost touching the floor, not that it was as effective as it could have been for I had changed from the red dress into a pair of trousers I had brought along with me and a long baggy shirt.

"The pleasure, good sir," I whispered, playing along with him, "Would be all mine."

In the moonlight, on that balcony even though I was just a skinny girl with too long legs dressed in her father's old clothes, he made me feel special.

I stood facing the water, watching the sunrise, with his arms wrapped around me and his head resting on mine, as we relived the time when he had thrown me into the lake.

It is often said that love is blind, but I am sure that we were that night. Blind to everything that came near us. Anyone could have sneaked up on us, as it was some one did.

We walked home, thinking that maybe this night I would sleep without being disturbed. We arrived at Lynceus' room first; he kissed me goodnight and asked if I wanted to come in.

With a laugh, I declined and continued on my way. On my own, walking through the thin passages that led to all the rooms in the palace, listening to the echo of my footsteps I was too busy humming and keeping my eyes open, and my mind from falling asleep.

I, however, was very far from being asleep when a hand grabbed onto my shoulder and spun me around. I came wide-awake and ready to fight in a matter of seconds.

My father caught the edge of my fist on his jaw before I realised who he was. Admittedly, I may have seen it was him before I hit him but I suddenly found myself unable to stop my fist.

The look on his face was worth it.

Seeing the madness in his eyes however was not.

He seemed smaller than usual, dirty, unkept and unclean.

"You… how could you do that to me? Betrayer."

"What do you mean? I have done nothing to you. I have betrayed no one and do no wrong to any one."

"With him! You were with him, I saw you and I followed you, how could you with him?"

My father was now nearly incoherently babbling.

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you trying to ruin your life and mine as well?"

"What have we got to do with your life and why am I going to ruin it?"

His eyes shone with a strange light, glowing in the dark with a crazy shine that alarmed me. Maybe the dress had pushed him over the edge after all. What was he doing, sneaking around in the shadows at night, spying on people? How long had he been following us? Was he drunk?

"Going behind my back, sneaking about with that traitor… cheap whore."

"I am not going behind anyone's back, and call me that again and I will hit you again."

"Althea… purity…. What rubbish, nothing pure about the way you've been acting, the way you've been acting with him."

I stood there with me mouth wide open, stretching right down to the floor, gob-smacked. Listening to him as he rambled on, way past the time when he had only just been coherent. Now, I doubted that even Apollo, the God of Clarity, could have made his crazed babblings understandable. Althea was not simply a random girl he had shared a bed with years ago, but the name of Lynceus' mother, he thought that I was her! He had definitely lost his mind!

"Slyly hiding, sneaking about in the shadows, I saw you together, saw you kissing him." He spat the words at me, pushing me backwards, against a wall. Blocking my way out and so making escape difficult, but not impossible.

"Well," He yelled at me, I flinched and that sign of weakness made him worse.

"What have you got to say to me? I was with you first, he identical to me… what difference is there between us? You were mine first, mine Althea. Now you go and give yourself to him. How could you? I thought that I loved you, that you loved me?"

He was shouting at me so loud that his voice was by now hoarse.

"He loves me," I whispered, not caring if he heard me or not, if he understood me, if he was capable of understanding anything. "You never did," I said louder now, wondering how I could feel so calm as I was saying this, yet be anything but calm inside, "He loves me like you never have done."

"I won't have it!" He croaked, the madness coming into his eyes again. I recoiled from him in horror and disgust. This was what the great Danaus had come to? Deluded and insane rantings about a past long since dead and a woman who had never loved him; who he had never loved.

"You hear me, I won't have it!"

He wrapped his thick, chunky fingers around my thin throat. The scream that came from my mouth slowly died as he tightened his grip, cutting off my air supply. I rolled my eyes in disbelief at his stupidity, what did he think this would achieve? I had learnt a long time ago how to get myself out of situations like these. Where my father would either be too drunk to know who I was, or so desperate to hurt something that he did not care who I was. I had vowed a long time ago never to let myself get into a situation that I could into get myself out of.

Like I said, escape was difficult, but not impossible.

In one fast movement that needed no deliberation or hesitation before I did it, I hit him on the jaw, hard. With a loud crack, he howled and leaned backwards, giving me a perfect aim to his exposed groin. Before he strangulated me, I brought my knee up with all the force of the anger and hatred that I felt for him. My knee made contact with his most vulnerable area.

He let go of my throat and fell, sobbing and groaning to the floor, curled up in ball. Before going lest he got up and tried to throttle me again, I said quietly to him in a threatening voice,

"Touch me again and the child your wife is carrying will be the last you beget, if it is not already."

How my words would come true! Little did I know at that time that those words that I spoke to him would foretell her future and foreshadow a dark warning to the unborn babe.

As I turned, he shot me a venomous glare from the floor and I considered kicking him to teach him a little humility.

"I won't let you go," he whispered, "You'll never be free of me. I'll never let you marry him, you'll regret it."

"You I said, wondering why I was even continuing this argument with a mad man. "Can do nothing to stop me. Danaus, it is I, Hypermnestra, not Althea, that is going to marry Lynceus, not the father, but the son."

I did not hear his poisonous whisper as I left; warning me not to be so sure that he could do nothing. But my blood froze to ice as the voice in my head quietly told me that there were many, varied way he could prevent our marriage, the most extreme having Lynceus killed.

But, what would I do, what would my life be like without the prat?

As I hurried away, first my hands started trembling and then my whole body shook, contradicting my previous bravery and courage. Why, I wondered as I cursed my body's feebleness, could I show no emotion and so cold and calm one minute and then the next not be able to walk because I could not stop myself from shaking.

There was nothing else I could do, being in the state I was in, Lynceus did not get much sleep that night I am afraid. Nevertheless… it did serve him right.

As soon as he answered the door I fell over, it is so shameful to tell you this, but forgive me this weakness. He caught me and I spent five minutes uncontrollably trembling and gasping as if I were crying, whilst talking about things that didn't make any sense. However… tears, are something that I will never waste on anyone, least of all that undeserving slug that calls himself my father.

He half pulled, half carried me into his sitting room where he went off in search of alcohol to steady my nerves and I stared in wonder at his walls. I covered the walls!

I filled every spare inch; there was not free space on the walls that was not covered by my image. Images of me, looking up at the artist, smiling, scowling, looking annoyed, amused, drawings of me sitting down, standing up, running, singing, playing with my hair. All of me. The most recent one, unfinished and looked as if he had been adding to it before I had interrupted him, was of us, dancing.

This was the second time I had been totally surprised and shocked this night.

"I was going to collect them all together and give them to you as a present, but you ruined that, what's happened to you?"

I grabbed the decanter filled with the amber liquid and drank. After I had finished with it, there was less than a thimble full left.

He looked concerned now, and took the glass flask out of my hands just in case I decided to finish it off.

"My father… he's mad, can't be sane… don't know what's wrong with him.. not right in the head."

"Slow down and start from the beginning, from when you left me to walk back to your rooms. I swear I hate your father if he's down this to you."

Slowly and painfully, I started the tale of how he had grabbed me and started calling me Althea.

Slowly his eyes darkened with rage and I could tell the effort it was taking him to not rush out the room and kill Danaus.

He looked a little better when I told him about my self-defence moves and how I had left him, broken and crying on the floor. I did not tell him of the last things he had said to me, promising that we would never be married.

When I had calmed down and had started cursing myself for a fool he knew I felt better. This time he walked me back to my rooms and I could tell he almost wanted my father to catch to find us, so that he would have the pleasure of confronting Danaus himself.

"Thank you for coming to me, my door is open to you any time of the day. Don't worry about waking me."

"I didn't."

He left and said a silent prayer to whatever God or Goddess that was watching over me, to watch over him, and keep him safe for me. My father, after this night, I realised, could be hiding in the shadows anywhere, just waiting for him chance to strike back at the man who ruined his life. Why could he not have died of a stroke?

_Gods, keep and protect him as you've always do for me. Look out for him._

As I have said before, I do not know what I would do without him.

**3, 030 words, hmmm… not as much as last time, but an explosive chapter. If any of you wonder why I did not have Lynceus swoop in at the last moment and kick Danaus' ass for Nestra, while she was being strangled. Well… I am trying to promote the fact that women are just as good as men, and are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, so I thought it would be better if she could take care of him herself, she's still independent and her own person, and she was just dying to have a pop at him.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 2000 words a go.


	17. Ghost Child Prophecies

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD! **I also have my own forum now as well have a look at it, it's mostly an excuse for an argument or discussion about random things.**

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

**Now I know that this chapter might not be _exactly_ to do with this story, but it does have quite a bit to do with the next story I plan to do… and everyone who hasn't already guessed from the hints I have been dropping, another clue here.**

My sister helped me with the poem, so **review** and tell her how much you liked it. She's MUCH better at poems than me!

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

I woke up to the sound of my door being banged, hard, and something that sounded like goblins screaming.

I groaned, this had to be a dream, or more likely a nightmare. I buried my head under the sheets to blank out the noise and ignored whatever it was. The noise continued, it was obviously not a figment of my imagination. I groaned again and cursed.

Getting to my feet I scowled and opened the door, stood up straight to my full height of six foot and a little more, and prepared myself to growl at whoever was stupid enough to disturb my slumber.

Not even coming past my waist a tiny little girl stood there with an expression that mirrored my own. Her eyes looked at me with anger, confusion and a little sadness.

"What are you?" I asked her. She was white, like a little ghost. Her hair, so pale it bordered on pure colourless. Her tiny face was only the softest blend of pink and milk white. The only colour that girl had about her was the cold blue gaze she was directing at me.

"What are you? A giant? That man told my father that you ate children and that I would die and get rid of my mother's problem and shame." Her tiny voice trembled.

I needn't have asked who the man telling her father these things were. Only one man was cruel enough to day things like that to a young girl, and only one man wanted revenge on me and knew the best way to give it. For a whole, long day I had to look after this little girl. Why couldn't he have killed me last night?

I looked at her cautiously. "I am not going o eat you girl, you' taste horrible." My weak attempt at humour drew no smiles, only a disbelieving raised eyebrow.

"What is your name?"

"Psyche."

Psyche, another abandoned Princess, another forgotten daughter of a King. Not that she was his daughter; she was the daughter of his wife, two very different things. Another girl who never had a chance to enjoy youth and childhood; having to grow up quickly and learn to guard her back.

"I am Nestra, Psyche, and how old are you?" I judged the girl at about five, and a very small five at that as well.

"Six. Father said that you had to look after me today. What will we do?"

I racked my brain, trying to seach for things that would keep a six-year-old girl occupied. She didn't look as if she was going to be a little terror. In fact I felt sorry for her, she reminded me of myself. Although… that was a bad thing, I had been and still was a demon.

I reached down and took her hand. This wasn't going to work, I was at least twice her size. She smiled at me as I bent over double.

"What would you like to do?"

"Your bedroom is really messy and this palace is boring. Can we go out? I've never been out before without my guards and father."

"Okay."

Before we left my room which was, coincidently perfectly tidy, I sent a mental SOS call to my immortal friends, praying that Lynceus would not hear it and think I was being attacked by Danaus.

_I have to look after this girl for a whole day, please, come and keep me alive, please. I kill her or she will kill me without help. Please… help me._

Seconds after sending out the thought wave my friends arrived. Artemis took one look at Psyche and melted. Psyche took one look at Eros and said,

"I don't like you." She pulled a face at him that he gladly returned.

"Don't like you either."

"Don't worry Psyche, very few people like Eros. I'm the only mortal friend he has."

Psyche grabbed my hand again and following the immortals out the door pushed me along. I looked down at her and wondered how anyone could be so pale or so small.

Eros walked alongside the tiny girl and watching the tall thin God banter and play with her was more than enough to keep anyone amused.

I looked over at Artemis, who was doing her best to keep that shy tentative smile on Psyche's face. She was doing everything, form buying her delicacies, sweets and such not made in Greece that travelled across many lands to get here. She was even deliberately baiting Eros into fighting with her.

I soon tired of bending over to hold her hand, but I did not want to give up this fain link I had with her just yet. I could do nothing about my own life; that was a mess that was impossible to sort out. However, I would at least try to make another's a little better, if only for a day. I reached down and grabbed her slight frame. I placed her on my shoulders where she shrieked and laughed. Trying gently to get her off by pushing her, Eros received a sharp tap on the head. He yelped and I sighed. When would he learn that boys would never get the better of girls?

Placing her on the floor and holding her shoulders we looked around the busy market place.

There were hundreds or more like thousands of colourful little stalls that sold such fascinating things. Jewellery, herbs and spices that I could not even pronounce let alone know what they were or did. Ribbons for your hair, scarves made of silk, flowers, everything.

As we came to the town centre people started milling and crowding round us, following us before I had even noticed them. They pointed at Psyche whose tiny face looked up at the three of us in innocent confusion.

"Why are they pointing at me?"

One woman came too close for my liking and shouted,

"The ghost! The spectre! She's cursed, do not go near her."

"The soulless!"

"The White One!"

"Touch her not for you will become one like her."

The people went mad, all shouting things at us, mostly concerning Psyche, even daring to throw stones or fruits from the stalls at her. It was futile, they always missed thanks to the Gods, but it was painful and maddening to watch. Her eyes turned to stone and she bit her lip, refusing to cry. Turning away from them she pushed into Eros. I have seen Artemis mad on rare occasions, but I have never seen Eros as angry as he was that day.

His eyes becoming a dark scarlet, he lifted up his head and roared. Everyone went deathly silent as the mortal projection of him, standing next to me morphed into this… being that I had never seen before. This was a whole different side to Eros.

Wings erupted out of his shoulder blades, dark blood red feather, sweeping the ground with loud, powerful beats. He grew taller and towered over them all, mesmerising them with his fearsome and terrible beauty.

Golden flames sprang to life, where but a few moments ago blond hair had grown on his head. Fire burned out of his fingertips and his bare feet, shooting up, escaping from the being that was now Eros. Flying up into the heavens.

He picked up Psyche and that girl went to him willingly, as though he was still the person he had been before. He held her gently and rested her head next to his shoulders.

Wrapping he arms around her, he called down his wrath on the prejudiced and blind people who had so stupidly and unwittingly insulted him.

I covered my ears as he roared and watched in wonder as Psyche sat there, like a queen, oblivious to everything.

A cool voice next to my ear pulled me away. It dragged me so far away from the rioting that when I opened my eyes I was in a bare room, blank and devoid of adornment and emotion.

"He will be punished for that stupid and thoughtless display of emotion. It will not do anything, those humans will still be prejudiced against people different to themselves. Such a waste of energy."

Now… Hera, the cool and handsome woman in front of me was Queen of the Gods so one might to take care whilst guarding ones tongue. But I preferred a much more direct approach.

"You realise that attitude might be why Zeus prefers others to you?"

"Ah Zeus," she smiled coldly, humourless. The Goddess was beautiful, as all immortals are. She had long chestnut brown hair what curled slightly and framed a face that could not be described as anything but stern. Her light hazel eyes told of life filled with little laughter and more pain or sadness.

"The reason why that… human child is there, being ridiculed. Or rather I am the reason she is being ridiculed and he is the reason she is there."

"Why am I here?"

"Because," she paused, probably wondering what she could say without telling me the whole story. "I made a mistake six years ago, and now… I wish to prevent an even greater one from happening."

"Can I not have more information?"

"I hurt that girl before she was even born, and I find that my conscience now pricks and torments me, so I seek to find a way of preventing more harm done to her."

"Oh… what sort of harm will she have to go through?"

A tear glistened in the corner of her eye,

"The sort that I never had a Goddess to help me avoid. My husband and the pain he has caused me…" She looked away, to have a moment of reflection.

"She will have even bigger problems than I have."

"You cannot tell the future, how will you know what he will be like, and why now? She is only six, why not when she is older and more able to understand?"

"I see him now and the way he acts and I do not need The Sight to know he will never change. As for the time and why now, you two will not meet again for a long time and to be able to do this I need you."

"What do you wish me to do? I cannot foretell for you what will happen as my visions come unbidden to me. I do not see what I can do for you."

"Just repeat after me."

"What if I do not like what you are saying?"

She smiled, "Let's just put it this way, I don't care what you think, you maybe be favoured by that wimp Artemis and by that undeserving slug of a God, Eros. Nevertheless, I will not hesitate to kill you. Now, repeat after me."

Anything I said in this room, would only be heard in the world where Eros was wrecking havoc, which meant that Psyche would hear it and everyone else.

"_Ghost child, pure of soul_

_Needs only a partner to make her whole."_

I whispered the words after her, but she made every word I spoke echo in the empty room, echo in the world that I was missing from.

"_A monster she'll love, _

_High soaring in the skies above."_

I was now concerned, a monster? What sort of things was she making me speak, and what sort of effect were these words having on Psyche? She said men problems not monster problems.

"_Wings gleaming free and lose,_

_A creature with more power than Zeus."_

I tried not speaking but a flick of her fingers solved my dumbness.

"_You'll gain his love and lose it too,_

_None can predict what will happen to you."_

What effect were my words having on Psyche? What sort of creature was more powerful than Zeus?

"_Hideous too, hide your eyes,_

_Will you ever really see through his disguise?"_

This was getting too much for me, rather than sounding like a warning, it sounded like a curse.

"_Be this truth, be this lies,_

_It's up to you, for you to decide."_

I knew what I thought it was.

"Is all of that true?"

"Would I lie?"

"Probably is it suited your own needs."

She smiled a little more kindly.

"A mortal who speaks her own mind and not lies. How rare and interesting, how comical."

"Glad to be the object of your amusement, what is more powerful than Zeus?"

"Nothing that you should know about. You have my thanks for the favour I asked of you. I will now give you some helpful advice."

"Is it going to be truthful advice or lies?"

"I'll let you decide how reliable it is."

Her gaze fell on me and pierce right through me. I felt like she was sorting though all my secrets, fears, hopes, everything.

"You are not yet convinced about the danger you are in. Trust your visions and the bad feelings you have. I think that you have good cause to worry. Be wary of everything, but most of all beware your step-mother's garden, for the thing you fear most of all will soon come to pass."

"Well, at least I do not have to worry that I am going mad imagining things and dreaming up conspiracies."

"Far from it." She smiled sadly, "At least I do not have you give you advice against loving men who do not deserve even to be turned into insects. Your man is a good one."

"Don't I know it, everyone tell me that, but he is only like that because he knew that if he did not tidy up his life and become a good boy I would hit him."

"Well… I can almost see what your friends, Artemis and Eros, like about you, remember, I said almost."

"Returning the compliment can I tell you that I do not see what Zeus sees in girls like my sisters and what he does not see in you."

"Thank you." She waved her hand and sent me back to my own world.

"I opened my eyes and found myself the object of three pairs of eyes. I was standing in the middle of Artemis and Eros who was still holding Psyche. All around us stall were on fire and the place looked deserted. Psyche was screaming in terror and Artemis snatched her away from Eros with a glares as if he was the one who had made her cry. He was back to normal now. Psyche lay, being cradled in Artemis' arms as she rocked her like a little baby.

"I do not want to marry a monster!"

I was relived to find that marrying a monster was the only thing she was scared of.

"I am not going to marry a monster!"

I hissed at Eros. "Do something!"

"Like what?"

"Make her laugh."

He ran up to her, brushed her hair out of her face and completely doing the opposite of what I had asked said to her,

"You're going to marry a monster!"

This stupid person was more like the idiot God I knew.

"For a God of love soft, girly and not very strong, you are an awfully horrible looking monster."

"Well…" He said with a grin, "Love can be hard, cruel and hurtful, and I am the embodiment of love."

"Meaning that you can be mane and horrible when you want to?"

"Right," He bared his teeth and growled at me, "Beware, are you scared?"

We walked away from the chaos that he had created and I looped my arm around his neck.

"No, what's to fear about God's? Underneath all the lights, noise and immortality you're all just the same as mortals."

He grinned even more at me.

"Don't tell many of the other God's that, they are very arrogant and convince that they are something special."

"Our secret."

We walked and as Psyche grew a little quieter as she screamed 'I'm not going to marry a monster', Eros again took up his place in convincing her she was.

"You're going to marry a monster."

"I. AM. NOT!"

"Yes you are."

"I am not."

"Yes you are, a hideous, gruesome monster."

She screamed and we stuck our fingers in our ears.

"I am NOT going to marry a monster!"

"Yes you are."

"No I am not."

He moved to stand besides her so he could poke and torment her some more. That was a big mistake as he was to find out.

"You are too."

"I am not going to marry a monster. You are a monster!"

With a viscous stamp of her foot she jumped up and down on Eros' feet. She giggled and laughed as he jumped and hobbled about in agony.

"I feel better now, I'm not angry anymore Nestra."

"That's good Psyche."

"That's good Psyche? That's good Psyche? That girl just broke my foot and all you can say is 'that's good Psyche!'"

"You deserved it; you said that I was going to marry a monster."

I smiled… so… I was not the only one to get the better of Eros.

"Come here and I'll pick you up again."

He held out his arms.

This time she hesitated, rather than hesitating when Eros turned into devil incarnate, she was hesitating now when he was back to normal.

She looked at him warily and said,

"You won't drop me will you?"

He smiled, "Not unless you kick me."

"Okay." She jumped into his arms and he placed her on his shoulders.

They argued all the way home about whether Eros had deserved having his foot stamped on or not.

Me and Artemis laughed at them to see the God arguing and being beaten by the tiny girl.

Her face fell when we returned and I knew it was time for her to go back now. She knew as well as I did that we would probably not see each other again for a long time.

"Psyche… it's hard to say goodbye, but hear this." She nodded her small solemn head at me. "If you ever need anything from me, or you get into trouble and need help." I looked at her to make sure she understood what I was saying, she nodded again. "Then all you have to do is send word to me that you need my help and I'll do whatever I can to help you."

She smiled, her eyes shone with understanding and wisdom far older than her years.

"Thank-you, I am sorry I called you a giant." I laughed.

"It's alright. Do not worry, I am sure we will meet again little one."

I left her with her father, in their set of rooms. With a heavy heart I walked back home.

I still had to puzzle out the cryptic clue Hera had given me, beware my step mothers garden? Did that mean she was trying to poison me? Did it mean that something was going to happen in the garden? Was I going to be kidnapped or hurt there? My mind hurt and throbbed with a headache after thinking of all the different possibilities that could happen to me, and worse, it was going to happen soon. All of those possibilities resulted in my death.

Gods!

Why could I not have been born a peasant girl?

Why could I not live a simple life without poison, death, visions, pain or suffering?

How I long to be an ordinary girl!

3,243 words! Nice number! Still wish it was bigger though.

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 2000 words a go.


	18. Despair and Darkness

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD! **I also have my own forum now as well have a look at it, it's mostly an excuse for an argument or discussion about random things.**

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

**Everything kicks off in this chapter, so review. Nothing's the same and it may be a little upsetting, especially the first bit. Sorry! But it is necessary!**

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

I looked around warily, conscious of hidden dangers in the darkest of shadows, not a naïve and as innocent as I had been before I had married him and come here. My swollen hands holding my expanded waist and my arms curled protectively around my pregnant stomach. Another child, the one he had waited so long and wished so hard for. One moment, pregnant? Again, this person, whoever's body Fate had thrown me into, was not me. My hands were swollen with the heavy pregnancy that had come so suddenly and unexpected to her, she had thought that her child birthing day had left her and were long gone. As it was the Fates had a different plan for her.

The woman who I was in felt that it had to be a boy; it was so big and so many weeks late. Worry coursed through her body and both myself and her felt danger coming, thick, potent and acute danger… coming our way…

The woman gasped as a hand grabbed her shoulder, hard and painfully. Disguised and cloaked with shadows deep and dark, I could not see him, but the lady's heart leapt with something that had been love or a young girl's obsession, but it had been long worn away now with abuse and neglect.

She cried out in pain as he spun her around, it was painful enough to make me want to wince, but this woman was used to it.

"What you are planning is wrong, why are you doing it? Do you not feel any emotion for anyone, not even for your daughter? Why are you drawing me into it as well, I want no part in this."

"You know not of what you are speaking of." He talked to her with contempt.

A tear ran down her face, I felt her pain, he had never loved her and now… now she knew it.

"But she is your daughter, how can you do such a thing to your own flesh? What has happened to you my love? We were happy once when we were young, you made who I am now, and I helped to make you, though I think I do not know you anymore."

Again with more tears running down her face and with bitter salt in her mouth she repeated,

"What has happened to you?"

"The same thing that happened to you, only with you it is much more obvious. Age, I've gotten older and you, dear, look like my mother, not my wife. As for my daughter, well, she is not of your blood and you have always hated her as she was born before your own child. What concern is it of your?"

"She is also the same girl I watched grow up with my own daughters, the same girl who slept next to my own baby until you forbade it. I hate you." The words were said dispassionately as if she could no longer be bothered.

He grabbed me, pushing me roughly.

"Don't lay a hand on me." I screamed.

"Don't you tell me what to do, I'll do what I want." He roared.

With a loud crack he backhanded me, while all I felt was anger running through my veins, all this woman felt was a glum acceptance, resignation, this had happened more than once before.

"You won't hurt me. If only for the baby's sake. A boy this time, all for you my husband."

"And what of the other times, the other thirteen times when you told me every day that it was a boy, my heir. You are a liar."

"No lie his time, I feel it, it is different. He will be a boy. A beautiful strong boy like the girls; just as good-looking, as witty and as graceful, but a man."

"You are a liar; it's going to be another girl, like all the other girls. Useless, worthless and good for only one thing and most of the time the only thing they can actually do, they do not do very well. Like you, my wife."

I reached out to slap him, but he grabbed my arms in a grasp that was inescapable, I still could not recognise him for the darkness hid him well but I did not need to see his face to know who he was or who the woman whose body I inhabited was. How I hated him and how I pitied the woman for the first time.

With a viscous shove he pushed me down the stairs. I screamed with her voice as the darkness covered me and I flew. With a sickening crack I landed on the stone floor.

Soon after as she drifted between unconsciousness and reality, sharp knives struck her belly. She screamed and cursed. What a time. She was lying, probably dying on the floor and her precious baby chose this time to come into the world. What a bad omen for him. Her other births had been simple ones, fortunately with the great number of children she had bought to life. As she cried I watched through her eyes while the stones turned red and sticky with my blood and her son, my brother, was born with a loud scream and wail.

He was a boy after all, I sighed, and she was at peace now for she had fulfilled her role as a wife. A boy, he would have his heir and she would be loved again. Her eyes closed, her last glimpses of this world one of her healthy son. She sank back onto the floor, pain spreading through her body as her boy grew weaker, colder and his screaming grew quieter and lesser as time wore on. She could not move to touch him, feed him or comfort him. The darkness grew as she died alone there.

I woke with her tears wet on my face. It was still dark and the moon too bright for my eyes to handle yet. At least at home my room was far away from everyone else's; no one would hear my cries or my screams.

I had never felt sorry for my step-mother, until now.

A whistle outside my window from the balcony caught my attention; I sang the notes softly back, waiting for his response. It came, louder and bolder. No, it was not a bird, but my betrothed.

"What do you want? Come back when it is night." I was relieved to see him, but I was hardly going to tell him that.

"And then I would get catch by your father, you would not want that."

His black eyes and ready grin looked up from where he was, climbing up the balcony and dangling off the edge. I wrapped myself in my blankets and sheets and ventured out towards him.

He looked at me and then at the mess I had made of my room during my nightmare. My tear stained cheeks and the haunted look in my eyes which comes from knowing some one else was going to die soon and that my own death was fast approaching.

He said nothing wisely, just asked me,

"Are you alright?"

"As alright as it is possible to be with you waking me up at midnight. So why are you here, aside from wanting to see me of course?"

"I sent a note to your father asking to marry you, he did not reply."

"He burnt the letter." And screamed and cursed it for days afterwards.

"My father wants to invite you to our house tomorrow for a dinner involving only you, me and him where he can bestow his blessings on us. Most specifically, without my brothers in the way."

"He gave us his blessing months ago, not that we ever needed it."

"He only wants to see you and make sure you are alright. I told him about what your father did to you at the party last month. He was furious and wanted to go straight over and kill Danaus. I persuaded him that it was your right to do that if you wanted, he agreed with me."

I smiled, as always he had this talent of making me smile.

"Thank you."

"I have to get back now; Aegyptus doesn't want me to stay for too long with. Probably afraid of what we might be doing."

I blushed and scowled.

"He does not trust you either."

I reached over the balcony to take the invitation off Lynceus. Instead of giving me the small card, he grabbed my hand and kissed it. Pulling me along with my hand towards him until I dangled over the edge and my face was close to his. He kissed me gently, and ran his hands through my hair.

"Keep safe, I will see you soon, if you need me send word and I will come as soon as possible."

"Keep safe too. I do not want anything to happen to you."

I kissed his forehead and let him go. I looked out for him as he ran away, back to his house where his father and more than likely his brothers would be waiting for him. He would not be alone.

I yawned and thought again about going back to sleep. After the vision I had just had, it was impossible. My step-mother dead? But when? In a few days time? Next week or today? What was my father planning for me?

I had a long hot bath and relaxed. Thinking about arriving a little earlier at Aegyptus' house, maybe so early I could breakfast with them.

"Uncle!"

"Nestra! It is good to see you."

"And you Uncle."

Aegyptus looked thinner then usual and not as healthy as he had when I had first seen him, all those years ago. Age was getting to him as well and affecting everyone.

"Come, sit down and tell me everything that has happened to you since I last saw you."

I sat next to him and told him about the party, the dance where me and Lynceus had shocked the whole room. He frowned after hearing that and told me that he had a mind to beat Lynceus for making me dance that with him.

"I did think I had taught the boy better manners than that."

We talked for so long that it was past afternoon by the time we finished. Time for us to have the dinner he had promised us.

I sat down, opposite Lynceus and next to Aegyptus as he formally gave us his blessing. Holding our linked hands and kissing both of us on our foreheads. Then he prayed to the Gods to make our marriage a long and happy one.

It was while we were eating that I saw her. The maid who had served my family when it was Olympeia was now serving Aegyptus his wine. Her dark eyes saw me and grinned, it was not a nice expression on her face, it was an evil grin.

I kicked Lynceus under the table and he walked with me away from Aegyptus and any eager ears.

"When did you hire that maid?"

"A month ago, why?"

"Fire her tomorrow please; I have a bad feeling about her."

"Okay."

We walked back as she poured out wine into Lynceus' goblet. I kicked him again and looked meaningfully at his wine.

_Do you want some? _

_**Get out of my mind; I do not want you looking through my thoughts. Out now!**_

By now me and Lynceus, if we were close to one another could communicate like this easily. It was unnerving.

"Father, Nestra would like some water please."

I moved my leg to kick him again, but he grabbed my ankle and held it away from him.

Glaring at him I tried my hardest to kick him or get free.

"My… what big feet you have dear."

"My… what a big ego you have love."

We glared at each other.

"Son, give Nestra back her foot and Nestra if you would like some wine, I will get you some."

"Thank-you Aegyptus."

I smiled gratefully at him and kicked Lynceus as soon as he let me go.

The maid poured out my wine, and I sipped it slowly, watching Lynceus and Aegyptus as they argued and laughed together. There was an example of a proper father, one who loved his son and it showed.

I stayed there watching them for a long time, and seeing how Lynceus was so much like his father. I joined in when it involved teasing or tormenting Lynceus, but always I defended Aegyptus. He was my ideal of a perfect father.

After a while as we sat inside for the night had grown quite cold, my hands started to tremble and I shook as if cold, the glass I held in my hands fell to the floor and broke, I looked feeling dizzy and strange to see Lynceus lying still on the couch and Aegyptus looking as if he was dead. I tried so hard to scream, but I could not move.

Poison, from my step-mothers garden, that was why she did not agree with my father. Beware my stepmother's garden. Beware indeed, beware her poison, was I to die?

Ice ran through my body and I was so cold, so cold. I could not move or do anything to help myself or Lynceus or my uncle.

Were we all dying?

As I watched the maid came in saw me there and smiled coldly at me. She picked me up and carried me outside away from the house. Lycneus' eyes followed me out of the room and I knew that he at least was alive, Aegyptus lay there still though, his eyes were closed and he showed no sign of movement.

My heart felt heavy as I realised that Aegyptus was probably dead, and that Lynceus and I would more than likely be dead too after a short time.

My eyes, heavy for some reason, shut and I fell down into darkness.

Into a place where there was nothing but blackness. A bitter taste burnt my mouth, and breathing was hard for movement was impossible. I could feel my body shaking as wave after wave of convulsions ransacked my thin frame. I did not know what was happening; only that I had dreamed this, and that it was all probably a dream. There was a sharp pain in my stomach that made me want to cry out, but I could not, I had lost my voice. The seizures continued on and on endlessly as I stayed there, wondering what was happening to me. The darkness grew, if it was possible, but as it grew, all I could see was a tall, hooded figure, shining white. A God, my wasted body said as I struggled to open my eyes, movement after the convulsions was impossible.

He came nearer and I saw it was Hades. Was I dead then? Was Lynceus dead? His eyes filled with dreaded pity as he looked upon me.

"None of us saw this. This was not foreseen, how could this have happened without our knowing? What evil planned this?"

He stroked my hair gently and spoke softly to me.

"Friend of all immortals, Nestra, the Gods have looked upon you and protected you. This day, you I will not take. Your soul is safe. Live, live and sing, for all those who will never hear your voice again."

I couldn't open my mouth and I was too weak to look much longer at him, but I screamed at him mentally, tears running like rivers down my face.

"God of Death, Gatherer of Souls, Hades, who will not live? Who have you taken? Who that I love have you stolen from me?"

He shook his head sadly at me, regretfully, his grey eyes darkening in sadness.

"I cannot say who."

As he left me lying there, his whisper reached me.

"Father, mother, son. Father, mother, son."

At the point in which I usually woke up, nothing happened, this was real and happening to me, it was no longer a dream, or a nightmare, it was my reality, and I was scared, I was terrified for I did not know what to do, how would I get myself out of the blackness I was trapped in.

I screamed without a voice.

Lynceus was dead, he was the son out the rhyme, and the father was Aegyptus, and the mother was my step-mother.

Lynceus could not die.

"HADES, God of the Dead, come back here, do not leave me here."

Hades returned, angry for one simply does not order Gods about.

"I can do nothing for you Nestra, I will not allow you to die, there is much that you still need to do."

"Let me go with you, I need to find Lynceus for my life is nothing without him. I will die if you do not allow me to find him. Please I am begging you, let me find him and bring his back."

He looked at me again. How many times had he been asked those words? Too many to count?

"You know that you may die there searching for him, that you may loose all sense of who you are? That he may have lost all and may not be the person you remember. You might not be able to bring him back."

"All I can do is try or rather die trying if the Fates so wish. I will not let him die without fighting for his life. What do you ask of my in return for this favour?"

He paused, to look at me.

"You remind me of my wife, it is winter now and she resides with me. Sometimes she misses your world and the people she once knew. Come into death and look for your lover, in return you will come to my home and entertain my wife, if you can keep the smile on her face I would gladly do anything for you. I love my wife just as you love Lynceus."

"You have yourself a deal"

"Go, follow me quickly and remember, do not forget who you are or else you will never get out of here. Remember Nestra, and keep your bargain."

I followed and soon my glowing soul was added to the masses that followed Hades, the Shepard of Dying Souls. Only, my soul had hope, I was to find him. I had to.

I ignored the despair that told me that I would more than likely forget who I was, who I had been and that the odds were against me, I would never find Lynceus and we would stay here, our bodies dead and our souls gone.

Despair… all I could feel… all I knew… confusion

…Who was I…?

…Who had I been in life…?

3,151 words.

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 2000 words a go.


	19. Kiss of Life

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD! **I also have my own forum now as well have a look at it, it's mostly an excuse for an argument or discussion about random things.**

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

**Umm… for anybody's information after reading this chapter, no, Nestra is not in love with Hades, yes she still loves Lynceus, and please do not kill me for what I've written in this chapter, umm… maybe I should go hide before I get things thrown at me? **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

I wandered aimlessly with the other forsaken souls as we followed our God, in many hundreds of thousands of lines of the dead. Waiting to be ferried across the river Styx by the ferryman Charon.

Looking at the others next to me I saw them as they had been in life, handsome, ugly, old, young, male or female, and looked at my long thin hands. Turning them around, examining them from every angle, and then looking up and down myself. Trying to get a clue of who I was, who I had been.

I was solid and looked as if I was still alive until I saw the glow, the soft yellow aura surrounding me, and the lifeless gleam of the other people's eyes. I ran my hands through my hair, down my face, across my long nose and cupped my face in my hands. Who was I? Who had I been? Why could I not remember? All I could see was a pair of black eyes burnt into my soul for eternity. Whose were they? Mine? If not mine then whose? Who was I?

All I felt was confusion that turned quickly to frustration and then anger. A man came near me and pushing past me as I stopped the think, threw me into the black endless pools of the river of Death, the bottomless Styx. I sat on my backside thinking how moving through the flowing water was like walking through heavy air. As I held the water cupped in my hands it trickled out making no sound as it fell, causing ripples to fan out in the silent waters. It was not cold, why did I just think of falling into freezing water? What had happened? Was it a memory or my imagination.

I sat there and screamed out of pure simple mindless and memory-less frustration. I repeated every curse I had ever heard and many more that even I did not understand. Then I said them backwards, in three different languages. Gods and their various body parts were first on my curse and hate list, even without my soul I knew who they were. Then I cursed myself, my stupid, incompetent self who did not even know who she was.

As I wallowed in self-pity a shining silver man came up to me. He was quite obviously neither amused nor impressed with the words escaping my mouth or with me at that moment. His black hair hung down his neck and his grey eyes, stern but kind at the same time. He was tall, slender and I would have considered him quite good-looking if I had not already got a man of my own, that at least I knew, if only I could remember who he was, or even who I was. In fact how did I even know I had a man when I did not know who he was? Confusion struck me again.

"Nestra I told you to beware of losing yourself in death. Now I come back here, expecting you to have already found Lynceus and be gone from this place when there I find you, sitting on your backside, feeling sorry for yourself. You know the longer you stay in my domain the more likely you are here for eternity. I do not want you to end up the same way as so many others before you."

"What, Hades, did you just call me? Is that my name…? Nestra? What is Lynceus? And I am not sitting here feeling sorry for myself," I lied miserably, "I was trying to remember."

The God snorted in amused disbelief.

"Well it seems that some things, even in Death and with no memory do not change. You, I am glad to see, have not changed a bit. Which is why I am worried."

"Why are you worried?"

"Do you want your memories back?"

"Never answer a question with another question. Yes, do why?"

"Because you will definitely not like how they have to be returned to you, as for my Lady wife is she ever found out. Well… let us just say that she would be the only immortal of the Land of the Dead and I would be here, glowing along with you."

"How do I get my memories back? I want to know who I was. So just do it, give them back to me."

"Promise me that you will not hit me or seek revenge for it?"

"I promise, why, how is it done?"

Without answering, the God picked me up and kissed me. There was nothing romantic or sensual about him kissing me, our hearts belonged else where, with our soul mates. This kiss was just a necessary thing to give back to me what had been stolen away.

One by one, all of my precious memories were returned to me. Slowly I remembered my first kiss, hitting Lynceus, breaking his nose, kicking his up his backside when he became annoying, kicking him under the table. The way he made me feel just by looking at me, the way my skin tingled when he touched me, the way he made me blush, but most of, my readers, most of all the way my heart thudded whenever I saw him.

We pulled apart and I regarded the immortal with a glare that made it perfectly certain I was debating whether to break my promise and hit him, or kiss him again for returning my memories back to me and giving me back my soul. He smiled.

"It is sweet to feel so in love with some one and know that they feel the exact same way about you? Is it not?"

I smiled, knowing that for the first time I had acknowledged to myself that yes, I loved him. I had the poor taste and bad enough judgement to be in love with Lynceus. Forgive me readers, and do not hate me for this fault, it was never intended to be like this, trust me! Even though I have tried so many time not to be, it is true that I loved him.

"Not half as sweet as finding the great lummox and hitting him for making me come into Death just to find him."

We laughed, but before going our separate ways I asked him,

"Will a kiss from anyone restore Lynceus' memories to him?"

The God smirked as if he knew what I was thinking of doing, but sadly at that moment, I thought, well he is a God so he probably does. That made me blush a bright crimson red and made what I had intended all the more obvious to Hades, so if he had not have known before, by now, looking at my face ha most definitely did. Men, whether immortal or mortal are idiots!

"Only your memories of him, but the other should be returned soon afterwards."

He grinned and winked at me. I scowled and blushed even more.

"You would not be looking so happy if I told your wife about you kissing me."

"If you did that you would not ever be alive again, she is merciful but as unforgiving and as hard as a rock if you hurt her."

As we left Hades told me that if anyone asked me the reason why he had returned to me my memories, the answer was to be that I had to fulfil my end of our bargain, not that he liked or sympathised with me. Why he needed to maintain an image of severity was beyond my understanding but I realised that he did not have it in him to refuse every hurt mother looking for her dead children, or every husband looking for his wife, so the façade was there to dissuade all but the desperate.

Searching though the thousands and thousands of men all with black hair and flashing black eyes, I looked desperately for the one man I knew I would kill for putting me through this mess, and I would not be going into Death to look for him after.

I turned around again and again and again, searching for him. When, finally I thought I had found him. I ran with the speed of birds and half thought that I flew to him. Screaming his name I grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, fully prepared to hit him afterwards.

Although this man was the right height and his hair was every bit as black and as curly as Lynceus', his eyes were brown not black and his face was nothing like what it should have been.

I muttered apologies that fell on deaf and lifeless ears. A single tear gathered at the corner of my eyes and fell down to the dark, dry and hard ground beneath me with a silent splash. I bit my lip to stop more from felling.

"Hypermnestra… turn around, I have sent some one to help you, though it will be the last favour I am able to grant you, smile, cheer up and say 'hello' to your mother."

"Mother?" I gasped as I turned. The woman in front of me smiled softly and wiped away the wet path the tear had taken down my cheek.

Beautiful was the only possible word to describe her. It was a great pity I had inherited nothing of her looks except her eyes. My mother was exactly like Aegyptus had described her. She wore a white robe that fell to the floor, her pale face and bright green eyes stood out in the darkness that was solely illuminated by the glow of the Dead. He red hair looked every bit as unruly as mine and a quiet smile twitched at the corners of her soft, pink mouth.

"Mother?" I repeated, waiting for her comfirmation.

"My daughter." She said and flung her arms around me. "How I have wanted to see you, only I rather wish it had been in slightly more pleasant surrounding and under better circumstances. How I have longed to hear your voice."

"Why… why are you not like them…soulless?"

"Well… Aphrodite has not only visited you, she had come to me also. Told me what you look like, your character, everything. She forced me to gain back my memories in preparation for this day."

"Can you help me?"

"Oh yess… of course I can. Aphrodite has told me all about him, missing out nothing. He sounds very… how shall I put it?" Her eyes gleamed in a way reminiscent of my own in Lynceus' drawings.

"He reminds me of his father." She sighed wistfully as if she was still what she appeared to be, a girl little more than a few years older than I was at this point. "I worshipped him as soon as Althea introduced us. I never told him of course, not only was he quite obviously besotted with my best friend, well… she was in love with him too."

"He died." Gods how it hurt me saying that… my poor uncle.

"I know dear. I've already seen him, he has not changed one bit, and he was rather worried for you and Lynceus."

"Why did you marry father? You two neither loved nor wanted to marry each other."

"He wanted to make Althea jealous and I thought, well… if I could not have Aegyptus, why should I not have his twin brother? They used to be so similar."

She looked down , then remembered why she was here, to help me, not reminisce about her youth.

"Now, let us get down to finding your young man. I saw him push you over before, but you did not know him. I watched and saw where Lyncues went, I can lead him to you but I should warn you that he looked just like the others, and even a Kiss of Remembrance cannot bring back what may be lost forever. It may be that he is past anything that you can do my love."

"I said the same thing to Hades that I will say to you, all I can do is try and if necessary, die trying to save him. Without him I have no life."

She smiled, "Without him nothing is as it should be, yet to everyone else nothing has changed. I was young once, and I know how you must feel. Follow me."

She led me down through the crushing masses pushing her way through them and occasionally shouting at the mindless soul who got in her way. When I faltered as they banged into me and I had to stop to push them back out of my path, she just stood there, seeing herself, who she had been in me, who I was. I swear that once when she thought I was not looking she said to herself, 'that's my girl.'

"It seems that even after we had died and Earth feels our absence, we are never truly gone from our home, aspects of us live on. I am glad that parts of who I used to be still reside in you daughter."

"Father said that you named me, the moment after my birth when I was given to you, you knew you were going to die and so named me before you did. Why did you call me Hypermnestra?"

"As soon as I saw you I knew you were special, you were destined to be some ones, to do something, and The Gods had a special purpose for you when they planned your future. So I called you Hypermnestra, because it means 'special intent.'"

"Or there is always the other translation of 'excessive wooing,' I much prefer people to call me Nestra."

She laughed and stopped. I followed the hand that she had pointed in our direction towards a man.

"My daughter I will leave you know, just remember… love is like falling and being caught and the same time. I loved you and I wanted you so much, I am sorry that I could not stay with you. Goodbye." She walked away and left me there. Alone to cope with whatever happened next.

My heart broke, despite everything she had told about his eyes being the same as theirs and that something's are impossible to change, I had still expected him to be different, to recognise me.

I ran up to him and screamed his name and hit him. There was no response, not even one of anger for some girl he did not know marching up to him and assaulting him.

"Lynceus…" I screamed down his ear, determined for him to hear me.

"Your name is Lynceus." He looked at me blankly as if I was invisible.

"Lynceus, you have to recognise me, you said that you loved me, and if you die then you would have been lying to me, because if you really love me then you'll remember who you are and you will get up and come back to me."

"Lynceus…" I whispered now, long past the time when I had had hope… now tears ran down my face and I was not ashamed of them… I had more important things to worry about… "Lynceus… why do you not know me… it's me, Hypermnestra. You always used to call me Ness and I hated it, but if you wake up you can call me it all the time. Please… It's me… Nestra."

My name had evoked something in his eyes, I do not know what exactly, but it was something there that had not been there before.

I grabbed his head and kissed him hard totally determined to force all my memories of him into him one way or another.

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_I slipped and he caught me before I fell with strong, steady hands, but then when he should have let go of my shoulders, he grabbed me, and pushed my face up so that I had to look at him, look at his black eyes somehow filled with both everything and nothing. Whatever he saw in my eyes it must have been something he had never seen before, for then he did something completely unexpected, he kissed me._

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_He grinned and winked at me. I gave him a look that was capable of pulverising rock. I was really going to kill him, slowly, painfully, torturing him as much as possible._

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_He left climbing down the tree, but not before kissing me goodnight and playing some more with my hair, which he had unwound out of its plait. As he ran away lest my father caught him, he blew me a kiss, which I refused to return, I waved at him instead._

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_As I turned away, he grabbed my arm._

"_The earrings reminded me of your eyes. I mean what I've had engraved on them, only you, forever."_

_I smiled, picked up his hand and kissed his palm._

"_I know."_

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Tears ran like rivers down my face as his eyes showed no response to the memories, he did not know me still. It was not working and I did not know what else to do. All I knew was that I just could not leave him here, I could not.

I kissed him again, and again and again, trying to make him remember, all my memories of him I gave to him, I gave everything, not even thinking that I may not have enough to give or that I may have given him too much of myself and we would be stuck here forever.

I screamed in desperation and cried and hit him something broke inside of me, I told him everything we had ever done together, him throwing me into the water, giving me those earrings, asking me to marry him and last of all thinking that if anything this would work.

"Lynceus you have to remember, you have to prove that you are a better kisser than Hades is. Please Lynceus, remember, if you do not I will stay here for I have nothing without you."

Will begging him had not effect, challenging his kissing skill obviously had worked for there it was again, something stirred in his eyes and it looked like he was going to say something.

But before he said it some one grabbed me and pulled me away from him. Cursing Hades for letting me stay there in Death.

"Eros, do not take me away, he will die, please let me stay there with him. Please."

I talked incoherently as Eros dragged me kicking, screaming and fighting out of Death and into life.

"You cannot stay there or you too will die, I cannot let you just die Nestra, please, I cannot."

I opened my eyes and found myself lying in Eros' arms, next to Artemis who was crying and had her arms around both of us.

I screamed or rather, as my body was so ruined, croaked at Eros.

"I hate you, sent me back there, please sent me back, I do not want to live. Damn you sent me back, why did you take me, he was remembering, now I know he will die."

I hit him feebly over and over again, even though I know I should have stopped that it was not his fault, I could not help it, it was as if I was possessed. My whole body hurt as I moved and pain engulfed me but still I could not stop.

He did nothing to stop me, just put up with it until he too snapped and holding me so tight I could not breathe, let alone move, he cried too.

The three of us sat on my bed sobbing.

"I know he is dead, they both are, and my step mother."

"I can find out if you want whether he is or not so you know for sure."

I nodded my head and winced, movement was painful.

Artemis thought and concentrated for a moment, then started to cry again.

"Nestra," She gasped, alternating between crying and gulping in air, "he will live, but only just and he may still even die. But Aegyptus is dead and so is your stepmother."

"Lynceus cannot be alive, Hades said, a father, a mother and a son."

"He did," Eros agreed with me, "But you stepmother was pregnant, with a baby boy."

"He is alive?"

Artemis nodded her head and held me while Eros stoked my hair. I had cried for the first time that day, and it more than made up for the years of not crying.

"I am sorry Eros, sorry, I do not hate brother."

"I know," He whispered, "I could not let you die Nestra, I could not, I'm sorry but I just could not."

Tears ran down my face. But I knew what I wanted to do with Lynceus when I saw him again, kill him. This time I would not be coming after him.

3, 491 words! Now review and tell me whether you cried or not and if so how much! Come on it was a long chapter, so review and tell me what you thought!

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 3000 words a go.


	20. Slow and Painful Recovery

AN: I am doing this chapter really quickly when I technically should not be so show your gratitude and review!

Pain was all I knew and was to become my faithful and loyal companion for a long time. Some kind and wise person, more than likely my father, had decided that as it was now that I could not move for the pain it would be now that I would be moved. They tried to be gentle as they placed me on the flat, wooden board that was my permanent bed, it was padded out with a thin mattress and many blankets, but they did not know how every touch, every jolt sent pain running through my spine, my legs, and my arms.

The board may have been padded out so that another person may have thought it soft and comfortable. Me, in my unconscious state that was recovering very slowly, could feel all the sharp corners, all the edges or the board and I felt as if the padding, and the blankets were not there. It was much simpler to sleep, Artemis called it 'living death' which is quite a worrying term but fear not, sleep was how my body recovered.

Every step the poor people holding me up took made me wince with agony in the beginning. I am quite afraid that I made it worse by hitting Eros and moving when I came back after being in Death. The only good thing that came out of all of this was that where-ever we were going to escape Aegyptus' sons; we would be arriving very late and moving very slowly. For everyone from my sisters and my father to the servants bringing in all of our things, moved at the same pace as the slaves carrying me did. I was kept in a large elaborate tent that blocked out the heavy sun as we moved over the soft sand of the deserts. It also protected me from the cold frigidness of the fickle weather of the desert where in the day the heat blistered and burn innocent skin and at night, the coldness froze the warmest of hearts.

Every day when we stopped for lunch a woman with kind, sympathetic eyes in a hard face came to me. The first thing she said to me was:

"Now, this will hurt, it is not my fault so do not take your temper out on me. I will also not stand for any screaming or dramatics."

I muttered under my breath about it not being my fault either and how I would try to keep in my screams of pain when in reality my voice had vanished and if I wanted to scream I could only croak, then gasp like a frog.

She grabbed hold of my leg and I winced and flinched away from her.

"That bad is it? Well… this will probably take longer than he had expected. You know your father is a very impatient man."

I tried to snort at this but I ended up coughing ad choking violently.

"I mean," She continued, "Look at you for example, instead of taking the time to persuade you to come to Argos with him, he poisons you with hemlock, and look at you now poor dear. Do not worry; you will be back on your feet after a while. I will try to make this as painless as possible. I am sorry if I cause you any pain." She smiled and her plump ordinary face lit up. I watched as she gingerly picked up my leg again and as slowly as she could began to massage it gently.

"When you get a bit better, I can begin trying to move it. But for now all I can do is to keep the muscles in your leg limber."

I nodded a little as she finished with the first leg and then move to spread another wave of pain through the other leg as she began to massage that one. She repeated it on my arms and then started back on my legs.

"Does this hurt you?"

"Yes…" I whispered as I painfully nodded my head. I think that I had lost my voice screaming in the land of Death, and I missed being able to tell my father exactly and precisely what I thought of him.

She did it more gently, but as time wore on, so did the gentleness so that eventually I was subjected to what felt like molten iron being pressed up and down my leg.

"You know…" I paused, croaking already, "What… you said… about… father doing… this… why?"

"I have a feeling that some one," She turned around to glare at me, "created more than her fair share of scandal in Egypt and your father knew that you would not come to Argos willingly."

"Was not … scandal… my betrothed…"

"Betrothed or not, your father is your father, disobey him and get caught and you will end up in the courts arguing for your life."

It is ironic what people say without thinking that comes true.

My nurse was called Celecea, but I learnt early on that she hated to be called that and she preferred people to call her 'Celcy.' She was of ordinary height, not thin, but not overly fat either. Her brown hair was always tied back and her patience with me was a never-ending, bottomless pool. Through the dull, boring months and months of travel she kept me occupied and slowly things did not hurt as much. There was still pain, but not the blinding agony of before.

"When we get there," She said once after I told her that, "I'll start some real work on you and pain will be nothing but a memory."

During our travels from Egypt to Greece my birthday came, and then went and came and went again just as fast and as unnoticed as I used to be. The heavy rain that made war on us in the Spring delayed our journey another three months, so that by the time we arrived there, in what was to be our new home, we had been travelling for more than two years and eight months.

Although I could still not walk or make any fast or sudden movements, I felt a great deal better than what I had felt before. When they had told me that I could not walk, I had been rather foolish and had tried to walk, intending to prove everyone wrong. I waited until dark when everyone was either snoring or occupied with some one or something else. I rolled onto my side, close to the edge of the bed, then slowly moved my legs off the side and tried to get up. That painful effort sent pain roaring and howling through every part of my body, but it also resulted in me spending the rest of the night on the floor, helpless and unable to scream for help. My father actually told me that he hoped that it had taught me a lesson, as I blacked out from the pain of being lifted back onto the board in the morning. If I could have I would have scratched out his eyes for saying that to me, but all I could do was glare at him in a way that hopefully told him exactly what I wanted to do to him, decapitate him and burn him until he screamed out with the agony that I was feeling at the moment. On by one I would cut off his arms, legs, fingers and toes. I am afraid to tell you that thinking of how I was going to torture and kill my father was how I survived the pain. Do forgive me, I am sure that you would have done the same if you had been in my shoes.

That was how I coped with the physical pain of recovering from the poisoning and my little day trip into Death. Mentally, after Aegyptus' death and everything hat had happened to me, I danced on a thin line between sanity and what had happened to me in the land of Death, the simple snap of my mind and complete irrationality afterwards.

How I loved my uncle! He had been the one to first show me how to be a good parent, that the way my father treated me was not right. Aegyptus had adopted me as his own and in doing that had earned my unconditional love and respect. As I have said before, he was my ideal of a perfect father. So for him to die, it was devastating, and not being able to move, I could not perform even a simple ceremony of Remembrance. Instead I mourned him and my baby brother that never had a chance to grow and even my stepmother silently. Eros and Artemis had planted a beautiful tree with silver leaves, colourful flowers and a vibrant yet soft perfume at Lynceus' house, at my old house and at my new house, so that everywhere I went there would be forever a memory of Aegyptus. Those trees would bloom for eternity and they looked like o tree I had ever seen on Zeus' Earth. So therefore I think that they were not trees that could be found on Earth and that the immortals had created a new type of tree just for Aegyptus. Carved into the tree also for eternity was Aegyptus' name, and about him being a loving father and uncle. Words that could not possibly describe how much he had meant to us, his sons and me, his only daughter.

While I slept and tried to forget the pain, memories I had forgotten returned back to me, quite possibly the side-effect of Hades' Kiss of Remembrance. Things that I had forgotten, things that made me remember what Lynceus had said to me, all those years ago, that the day that I had slapped and kissed him had not been the first time he had seen me, only th eifrst time he had recognised me. I remembered.

_I had been a girl of eight or nine. I did not use to be tall then, just small and wiry. Thrown out of the house because of some party of other that I had not been invited to. This had been the day that I had found to special place that I always went to. The thing that had drawn me to it had been the trees. Big trees, perfect for climbing, and that was what I did, I climbed them. When I reached the top I looked down and imitated the birds, however I sounded nothing like them and it amused me so much that I laughed and did it again. The birds were not quite as amused as I was and flew away._

_But… some one else had found the show as amusing ads I had and whoever it was started to laugh at me. The laughter came from a bunch of moving leaves beneath me and it really started to annoy me._

_Even though I was only about eight I still dislike being made fun o, so I threw a big twig at whoever it was down there. I laughed then as I heard the dull thud and a loud 'owww!' Hearing my laughter he threw a rock at me._

"_What is your problem?" He asked._

"_You! Are you going to go away now and relieve me of it? Or even better drop dead and relive the world of it, it would be a much nicer place without you."_

"_But my lady, I would not have been able to see you if I had dropped dead."_

"_But, my boys for you are no more a man that I am a worm, what happens if you look at me then drop dead? It would be an efficient way of getting rid of irritating things like you."_

_He laughed and went off, but not before I threw another twig at him. He turned around to avoid it but I had a quick view of his face. What I could see of him was his curly hair and his black eyes._

I had forgotten that memory and buried it somewhere so deep that it had taken a miracle to drag it back out. Now I knew why I had taken an instant dislike to Lynceus, he had laughed at me and threw a rock at me; maybe my sub-conscious had recognised him.

Remembering Lynceus made me wonder how he was; the immortals had told me that he had had a rougher time than me. Apparently, wanting to be different Lynceus had decided to have an allergic reaction to the poison, meaning he had not only the effect of the hemlock given to us but also the effect of the allergic reaction. Now that he was alive again I was determined to torment him about this and make sure he never live it down.

When we came to a stop and our things were taken out I sat up and carefully looked around. To put it frankly this new place was not so different to Egypt, except that the heat was slightly less oppressive and the humid feel made me think it would rain quite a lot here. My father and sisters from what I could hear were doing their 'I am a kind rich person' act and were throwing sliver coins at the people. If only the adoring crowd knew that at least ten times that amount in gold was travelling with my father and that the amount my sister were throwing at them was pittance to us. Although it was amusing hearing my sisters shriek about wearing their dusty and travel stained clothing, one of them wondered what the people would think of them as apparently my sisters were dressed like 'paupers.' Well, as much as I hated to break it to her, there were real paupers outside, begging for food or money, thin, starved and hungry, to them my father and sisters must have looked like King and Queens.

Being a rather rich ruler of a country guaranteed my father a place at the Argive ruler's house, and when he welcomed us it was with genuine hospitality rather than genuine happiness to get his hands on the money. Although he was not so happy to see me. I had a fever that I had probably caught from one of the slaves who carried me. My father's ill treatment of them had brought on disease and illness despite the food left for them by Artemis. I was also a cripple, dependant on others, as much as I was determined to walk again, I had to acknowledge to fact that for now I was indeed viewed as a useless, delirious crippled girl.

I was given the suite of rooms as far away from civilisation as possible in the hope that I would curl us there and die. My rooms were on the outskirts of the ruler's estate and it was so bad but awful compared to everybody else's. Disguised as servants, Eros and Artemis came to me with medicine that would take care of the illness I had managed to pick up.

After tipping me, clothes and all into a cold bath I begged them to see to the slave first. More than a hundred of them had already died, more death was not necessary while I could wait.

Quietly they drifted around the sick, easing those too far gone gently into death and giving the others able to survive the medicine.

When they got back I was asleep, savouring the water that had been a precious luxury whilst we travelled. Need I describe the smell, the lack of food, the never-ending eternity of death surrounding me, the heat, sweat and uncomfortable-ness of more than two years spent travelling every single day with rest. Besides all that my visions had morphed into something else, something that scared me and however much I tried not to see, sometimes it was all I could see.

The yes that Hades had touched briefly before moving my heavy hair off my forehead had a new, special gift. Surrounding the people there were signs, so many signs. Sometimes they were there, other times they were not, depending on what the God's wanted me to see. But looking at the many death white skulls on top of the slaves heads, I guessed that many would not live past tonight even with Artemis' and Eros' help.

Women slaves, with perfect flat stomachs held ghostly white children in their ghostly white arms, and low and behold, two years later those women had children.

The visions came and went as they pleased, my father always had blood on his hands and a shining crown of thorns on his head, indicting that either the way to glory was not as smooth as he had expected, or that once gained, the power and glory he had always wanted would be bitter and painful.

I was in bliss lying in clean but cold water, but that might be the deliria talking so do not pay attention, for remember I was still wearing my clothes.

"Open your mouth sleeping ugly."

"I'll bite you if you call me that again."

I am now very happy to say that I had my voice back again. I am also happy to say that I did bite Eros for calling me that. Bu only after he had given me the vile-tasting liquid that hopefully would bring my fever down

They left at the sound of some one approaching. It was only Celcy, come to look after me. She stripped off all of my clothing, threw them in a pile and muttered about them no being fit for a pig to wear, let alone a person or even a Princess. When I complain about the viscous way she had undressed m and I was still ill, she asked me whether I wanted to keep the clothes and get worse, for I had worn the clothes for months, due to lack of anything else to wear, and they were more than likely riddled with disease. Or did I want to shut up, keep still and let her take care of me like she was supposed to, as effortlessly and as painlessly as possible.

I was dressed in a light night robe and then carried to my new bed. It was humiliating to be carried around, but, I told myself, it would not be for much longer. I cold stand on my own now and walk a little but my nurse would not let me walk around too much or fear that I would end up back in bed.

I sank into the soft feather mattress that was not a scratch on what my old one had been like, yet sighed with contentment as I yawned. But… trust is a hard thing to give, so my eyes remained half-closed, watching Celcy as she pottered about the room, tidying up and then, as she sat down in a chair by my bed, near by if I was ill or needed anything. I relaxed properly and fell back into a dreamless sleep.

A noise from outside woke me up with a jolt and I looked about for danger. There was none. But… in the dim light of morning, when birds were only just brave enough to herald the glory of the sun rising, I could see quite well the sign above Celcy's head.

I moved myself up a little and leaned closer to her head to see if it was what I thought it was. A curved bade and shield swam in front of my right eyes, along with a much younger Celcy holding them. I slipped my hand underneath the pillow and grabbed the knife I had kept hidden to so long. Inching my way as quietly and as carefully as I could towards her, ignoring the twinge of pain.

I tripped as I stood up and fell flat on my face in what was an ungraceful and ungainly pile of arms and legs. I then sat up and cursed a little too loudly.

"You know dear, that if you don't put that knife away then you'll end up pocking some one's eye out with it, and I would not want it to be one of yours."

"How about I pock you with it and ask questions about who you are later?"

Even though I stood over her, albeit desperately holding onto the bed, she did not look afraid. I scanned her light brown face, looking at the wrinkles along the corners of her eyes and mouth. The hard brown eyes. Despite her deceptive attitude, if she lost a little weight I realised that she would look at lot like a female warrior. She was nearly as tall as I was and I had experienced her strength as she had held me up many times after I had fallen down. Her broad shoulders and the slightly soft muscles underneath were obvious now and I felt like a fool for not seeing what he been obvious, right underneath my nose.

"Dear, I did not want to do this, but you have made it necessary, I do not want you or myself hurt before I can explain everything to you"

With a sweep of her foot she knocked the knife out of my hand with an agility that I would never have credited her with before.

"Has my father paid you to watch me, gain my trust and then kill me?"

She laughed, "My girl, you could not be further from the truth."

"Then why are you here, what are you doing and who are you really?"

"Aegyptus paid me to watch over you after what Danaus tried to do to you at that party. He was worried that you would not be able to cope with your father. He wanted me to teach you a few things."

"Aegyptus is dead, why are you still here? He can no longer pay in the land of Death."

"Ah… my child, Aegyptus was my cousin for I am the illegitimate daughter of his wife's brother. I grew up with his after the quarrel between his and your father, although at that time we did not know we were related through Althea. Lynceus is my blood, his father was like my brother, making his my nephew and you my niece. You are legally bond to him and obviously care about him. I have a duty to protect you."

All I could think about was how different Celcy and Aegyptus were. They looked nothing like each other. I was still wary.

"I can prove who I am to you. Aegyptus said you might need some convincing and gave me this. He said you would know what it meant."

She looked in her bag and pulled out a scrap of parchment. On it was a print of the ring around my neck, mine and Lynceus' crest. I untangled my necklaces and reached the ring, pulling it out and looking at them. The ring could have been taken from me while I drifted between various states of unconsciousness before when I had been ill.

"I have to ask you some questions because this is not really enough proof of who you are."

"Turn it over." She said quietly.

_If you are reading this Nestra, then I am dead and not able to be with you, or to protect you anymore. Celcea is my relative and after myself and your father disagreed, she became like a sister to me._

_Do not be sad my dear that I am dead, for I will be with your mother and Althea, my beloved wife, lost to me for so long, I will be neither sad or lonely._

_Just remember for always that despite your father I loved you like my own child, the daughter I never had the chance to have. You kept me young and showed me again the strengths of your own mother. Through you and Lynceus I have been shown that even though there is hated between myself and Danaus, there will forever be love as well._

_Celcea will protect you until such a time comes when she feels you have learnt everything she can teach you. Now… proof that I am Aegyptus and not someone trying to trick you._

_Lynceus proposed to you on your birthday, it rained so much we thought the heavens would fall down on us. His brothers were all acting atrociously, screaming, fighting, arguing, something awful, but all I could see was you two, oblivious to the world and the mayhem that my sons, who I have had he misfortune to bring up quite obviously very badly, were creating. _

_I hope that you have as much happiness as I was blessed with, take care. All my love; my daughter._

_Aegyptus._

Only Aegyptus knew that, or his sons, but they were not clever enough to have written this, in fact I would be surprised if I found out that they could actually write.

"Sorry… but it is hard learning to trust others again."

"No apologies needed, it is good you are wary."

"Will you show b how to kill my father or Lynceus if he gets out of line and needs reminding that I am the boss?"

She laughed and told me she would. I kept the letter, hiding it underneath the mattress, close to me. My uncle was such a good man, my father must have been his opposite and received all the bad points while Aegyptus got all the good ones.

I slept easier that night, knowing that some one my uncle had trusted was watching over me.

Good night my readers, until next time. Sleeping on a soft, warm, bed was good, lovely and… so different to what I had been growing accustomed to for the last two years.

Sleep calls…

4,328, OMG! I AM ABOOUT 2 FAINT, SAVE ME SOMEONE, I NEARLY DIED WHEN I SAW THIS, AHHHHH! FINALLY REACHED THE 4,000 WORDS, HURRAH!


	21. Death Lighter Than a Feather

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD!

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

The sound of two women fighting killed the silence of the night. About equally sized although unequal in skill, the tallest used her height to gain an advantage when the smaller one faltered a little and, using her choice of weapon, a long wooden pole, swept it across the floor in a quick movement and pushed the other on her back. The smaller one flipped up immediately and started her attack to regain her position as first. To anyone not looking too closely, they would have looked as if they were mortal enemies and wanted to kill each other. But… to some one looking a little closer they would not have missed the smile between them, the nod the smaller one gave her opponent that meant she gave her a point and therefore put the taller one in the lead.

But women were breathing heavily by now and were covered in a thin sheet of sweat. Although the bigger one was ahead in points, she had spent all of her energy getting to that hard earned place, while the smaller one had reserves of energy and the skill that the other had not.

Running towards her opponent with a scream the smaller one picked her up and threw her gently over onto her back. The woman landed with a dull thud on the soft springy floor, chosen especially for this purpose. With a groan she stayed there, signally with her hands the end of the fight.

I lay there, welcoming the pain I knew would be there soon in my back. It was a good pain and meant that I could walk again, I could move, I could fight and be beaten once more. I could take care and look after myself instead of relying on others now. I was independent once again.

With a laugh Celcy held out her hand. I grabbed it as she helped me up. I grinned at her, remembering that for a moment out there in our fight I had been winning.

"You are getting old Celcy, or did you let me win out there?"

"Neither thank you missy, you gained that point fairly. You have good skills of your own and quick reflexes, it will not be long before I feel you can take care of yourself without my protection. Look at you dear… only three months after we arrived and you were walking about and doing things ordinary people do without thinking, and you did it all without pain. I am so proud of you Nestra; your uncle would be too."

She bowed to me. I pulled back her shoulders and frowned, she knew how much I hated people bowing and curtseying all around me. It was irritating but could not be helped when one was a Princess. However to see Celcy doing it unnerved me.

"Do not do that. To bow like that to me is to put yourself inferior to me; you are inferior to none and superior to all, so do not bow like that to anyone."

She smiled to something behind me. I turned to see me friend.

"Beaten again Ness… not very good are you?"

"I'll fight against you any time as long as you were stripped of your powers. Then we will see who is good or not."

"As amusing and entertaining as that would be, I know I would lose, so I have to decline your generous invitation."

We walked back to my home slowly so Celcy and I could cool down after the fighting. Eros walked next to me, tickling and teasing me. Eventually I grew so annoyed with him I poured all of the water that I had been given out of the jug, over his head. He shouted at me and picked me up. I screamed as he ran about holding me in the air. All Celcy did was laugh at us as we acted like children, running about shrieking.

I said my goodbye to Celecea, but not before promising to see her tomorrow. There was still much I had to learn from her and a great deal she could tell me about Aegyptus and his youth. Artemis met us at the wall and I crept over and climbed the trees, slipping over the other side. Silently I pulled myself up the trellis with creepers growing up it and finally reached my rooms.

"A black bird came and left this for you. I stopped Eros from opening it by tying his hands together, literally. He wanted to know who it was from, but I rather think that it was obvious."

Eros sat in a chair staring at the black envelope while Artemis pushed me into the bathroom.

"I had your servants fill a bath for you."

I stripped off all my clothes and threw them in a pile and sank into the lukewarm water. My hair fanned out around my shoulders and I submerged my head under it.

As I relaxed my thoughts turned from how the semi-warm water was bliss to Lynceus. I wanted to know how he was, was he recovering? Was he in pain like I had been in? I wanted to know what he was doing, and whether he remember what had happened in Death.

"How is he?" There was no need for Artemis to ask who 'he' was, I had asked this question every time I saw them.

"He is getting better, not as fast are you are mind, but he is not as bad as he was before. Nestra, I told you the exact same thing days ago. You know I would tell you is there was any change."

"Is she asking after Lynceus again? You are getting as bad as he is. Honestly Nestra, you would think from all your questions about him that you were actually worried about him, and might, possibly like him after all." Eros shouted from outside the door to us, probably still glaring at the envelope, waiting for it for open itself so he could see what was in it.

"Go drown yourself."

"I will come in there and drown you if you do not stop being obnoxious and unable to take a joke."

"You would not dare, Artemis would curse you and make you turn into an insect."

"Trust me Nestra, if I wanted to I would, but as I do not want to come in and see you in the bath I will not."

The threat that he still might come in made me leap out of the bath and put on the simple cotton night dress. I walked out of the bedroom combing my hair through with my fingers.

I looked at the envelope, pitch black with a shining silver moon and golden twinkling stars in the background. It was smooth soft paper and at the back, a crest sealed the flap shut. It was of a big black bird swooping down over a land filled with nothing. It was the emblem of Hades, and these words were on it:

_Nex est tamen alius tempus in vita. Is est non futurus vereor pro victus partum maioribus periculosus quam exanimus._

I moved my fingernail underneath the seal and broke it, gently taking out the black paper inside. Written on it in a smooth elegant silver script was:

**_Tomorrow, come, sing, afterwards live and remember us. Do not forget your bargain with my husband. I am longing to hear you and make your acquaintance. Persephone. Goddess of Death._**

I looked over at Eros.

"How could you not know who this is from? Black paper; land of nothing on the crest; the words, 'death is but another stage in life. It is not to be feared for the living pose a greater threat than the lifeless' on it. Truly Eros you are not very clever."

He threw a pillow at me and I enjoyed being able to move without pain and launched myself onto him, pinching, kicking and tickling him. We fought for a few moments before tiring. Remember it was the middle of the night as we could not risk practising in the day. The immortals made to leave, but I held onto their arms.

"Stay awhile with me. How will I get into Death for I am not dying?"

"The danger is lesser because your body and mind are whole, we will take you and watch over you." Artemis paused and thought before continuing, "Remember that just because the danger is less, it does not mean that it is no longer there. You could still lose yourself."

They sank onto the bed, on either side of me, like so many other nights we had slept together like this, asking no questions about why I wanted them to stay, just being there. Me in the middle, Artemis on my left and Eros on my right. The feel of their warm bodies next to mine made me feel safe, secure in the knowledge they watched over me.

I thought about him, just as shameful and as humiliating as it used to be, saying that was not so any longer. Artemis' snuffling and Eros' heavy breathing lulled me to sleep just as gently as Lynceus had once done. I missed him and not being with him was like being able to speak but not hear, not able to see him, and never able to have him in front of me.

I have never been a romantic person, never some one who thought romantic thoughts or gushed out words of nonsense. But… I will tell you something I would never tell anyone, even the immortals and especially not him. That these years, so much time that I was to spend here in Argos, without him, well… they were to be the hardest ones in my life. Little did I know, when I had been with him as we argued and I tried to tell myself that really I hated him, that being without him was like being without half of my soul. Of course I would rather die than admit that to anyone but you, and I would kill all who ever suggested that to me or to him.

I dreamed that night like I had not in months. I dreamt that I was cold, in a hard damp cell and that I was …

… Scared, scared out of my wits, I could die, not from being here of course. Whoever heard of a prison cell, however dirty and unclean, killing a young healthy girl? But I would die due to something to do with my father. Why I should call him by that title I do not know for he has been as much a father to me as he has been an uncle to Lynceus. In fact why call him by a name when I could just call him 'the man that has half of my blood running through my veins yet chooses to ignore it and tries to kill me because he hates me so.' I feel no affection towards that man who killed his brother, I only bide my time until I have my revenge.

Sorry, I have rambled. Back to the dream, all I could think of was what Celcy had said to me, 'your father is your father, disobey him and get caught and you will end up in the courts arguing for your life.'

Was that where I was? Were the iron grey stone walls on every side a prison cell? Was the dread I felt because in a few minutes I would be arguing for my life? I snorted as I recalled the saying on Hades' crest, 'the living pose a greater threat than the lifeless.' How true indeed.

I was dragged kicking and screaming and resisting all the way to a cold room, where six men sat there with my father, sentencing me before I had a chance to defend myself, judging me before they knew who I was. All because I was a girl, and so dependant on 'that man who shares half my blood' for orders. Then, what happens when dear, darling little daughter takes life into her own hands? Why then she is killed for doing just that, for wanting to live her own life.

I tossed and turned that night, neither of the Gods slept through it for Artemis gathered me up, long limbs and all, into her arms and rocked me gently as I fell back to sleep, whispering to myself, 'it is the living that pose the greater threat, the living not the dead.'

Eros muttered words of reassurance that nothing was going to happen. We slept once more, but it seemed like I only closed my eyes to darkness, only to open them and find myself alone. With the full glare of the sun on my face, mad at me for wasting the light of today, still trapped in the blackness of yesterday.

Stretching, I heaved myself out of bed. So… I was going to end up in the Argive courts for disobedience… well… if ever it happened I would be sure to give those cruel judges passing judgement on innocent girls a how the likes of which they had never seen before.

I sat back on the bed, wondering if going back to sleep for a few more hours would be a crime of laziness. All my muscles ached and my body felt awful, like a mass of sore tender nerves. My hands brushed a small piece of parchment.

_Nestra, we will come for you at noon. Be ready, be smart, and be polite._

I stuck my head out of the window trying to figure out the time from the position of the sun. Well… ten minutes later my hair had been re arranged into a bird's nest and I had hit my head on the window frame more than once. Great, I thought, I have a headache that feels just like what Lynceus' singing sounds like, and three lumps the size of eggs on the back of my head. I groaned and then cursed repeatedly. I still had not found out the time. Oh well… better late than never.

Sorting through my clothes, I picked out garments that were too big on me. The training with Celcy had shaved off more weight that I could not afford to spare. I had turned into a twig, a stick, a thing that was too thin. Doubly great. I cursed some more, including the Gods, mainly Eros and Zeus and Hades in my speechs. I dressed in a white robe, short but a little big around my waist now.

"Are you ready or are you going to stand around cursing me all day. Although I admit, when it comes to me, there is a lot to talk about."

"How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me? What if I thought you were my father and tried to kill you with the new things Celcy has been teaching me? What would I do without you, my darling Eros?" I simpered at him and batted my eyelashes.

"I know what I would do without him." Artemis muttered, quiet but loud enough for him to hear, "I would celebrate and throw a party."

He growled at us and chased us around the room.

"Eros, behave and act like the God you are, instead of the fool you look like. We will be late."

"Close your eyes and empty your mind, this may feel a little strange as you are moving between the dimensions of Life and Death. But bear with us." Eros said, holding mine and Artemis' hands after being told off by her. He muttered the words of a spell quickly and then we were gone.

My feet stayed exactly where they were but I felt as if some one had taken a hold of my collar and pulled me away. I thought of nothing, so hard, it was like I had become nothing.

"Open your eyes my mortal friend." Her gentle whisper floated to me and as I opened my eyes I saw the owner of the voice.

She was rather small for saying she was a Goddess, or rather shall I rephrase that, compared to me she was rather small, but I suppose she could be described as of ordinary height. He beautiful appearance however was anything but ordinary and it took me less than a second to realise why the confirmed bachelor of Death had fallen for this girl.

He short brown hair, tinted red in places shone a vibrant copper and framed her tiny face. Those gentle eyes, so soft, yet at the same time issued a warning not to mistake softness for weakness. Freckles covered every visible inch of her, clinging to her frame.

I curtsied down to her, and she bent her head.

"Cousin, why is it she never acts that way towards me?"

Her face lit up as soon as she saw Eros and Artemis and I watched as she winked at Eros.

"Cousins, now do not be too bad today, for Hades had longed for this for a while."

I followed her out of the blank world of nothing, into her realm. Her world of such beauty I had never seen before and quite likely would never see again.

The river of Death split and curved around Hades' palace then joined back together. His home was a mixture of swirling towers, shining black but a riot of colours at the same time. Glass glittered and trapped pale light falling from delicate ball of magic. It was so tall and thin, all around me, the glowing souls of the dead laughed, chattered and talked. I glanced at them, then asked Persephone,

"Why have they still got their memories? They still know who they are."

"Those who still have their memories and know more than a shadow of who they had been serve my husband and myself." She paused slowly, hesitating, wondering whether to tell me her weakness or not, "I do not like to have the lost ones about me, it is somewhat upsetting."

I nodded in agreement. When we walked into that beautiful, overpowering place that the immortal couple of Death called 'home,' my mouth fell down to the floor.

"Zeus' balls!" Eros gasped.

Whoever called Hades cold and stern obviously knew not the God of the Dead. Fires glowed red flames rimmed with back, making the cold place seem warmer. The walls were decorated tastefully in bright styles that had more to d with Persephone's personal tastes than Hades' decorating style.

I watched as Persephone's face softened as she smiled when we approached her husband. She suppressed the urge to run up to him then forgot her place and did just that.

"Hello love, well… I see you have found our guests… " He smiled at his wife, fondness evident in his voice and face, it was obvious that, like he had told me, he would do anything for his wife.

"Come to fulfil my bargain my Lord." I bowed then straightened.

"Of course my lady. We welcome you here. A few of our servants wish to hear you. I hope you mind not that I had invited them."

"No, that is fine. Shall I cover my left eye, in case you do not refrain from giving me even more unexpected gifts?"

"What unexpected gifts have you given her that you have not told me about? …Love?" Her tone grew dangerous are she stared at Hades.

"A simple gift of vision, to see what is hidden, to help her sense hidden dangers. I will take it back when she has no need of it anymore."

Her face relaxed into a smile and she turned and whispered in my ear.

"Only playing with him."

Eros grinned wickedly and decided o make trouble.

"Wait until…" He said in her ears as we walked to their hall, "I tell you about what they did when Nestra died and went into Death."

"Why… "She turned to glare at Hades, "Hades, what did you do to Nestra in Death? Tell me… I demand to know."

With a forced smile Hades grabbed Eros and described the many various way he could be tortured if he so much as looked at his wife again, let alone made up lies about him cavorting with me. Eros suddenly decided to talk to Artemis and ignore Persephone.

She made out that she was mad, but, when she thought no body was looking, she grinned and winked at me, all the while trying to find out what Hades had done to me in Death. She probably already knew and was just teasing him.

We arrived in the hall and once again I was shocked, black velvet covered the wall within the dark depths was spun gold threads, delicately placed all over the room. At the front there was a raised platform, well… at least I knew where I was to be. Our voices echoed as we talked though the songs Hades wished me to sing, lighter happier ones, common in my mortal realm, and favourite of the Lady of the palace. Another one, minor, sad and a love song. One that I instantly hated and would not have chosen, but Hades had.

My voice filled every corner of this lifeless, somewhat cold room, every nook and cranny was found and covered with my voice. Straining for the highest notes and urging out the lower ones.

As the time passed, the last song approached and its minor haunting tune soon found its way to everyone's ears.

I scowled, knowing the words well, turned to Eros and asked him whether Artemis had had a hand in what I was to sing.

"Hades I hate this song, please do not force me to sing it."

"Nestra I hate seeing perfectly alive women dying and losing themselves all because they heeded me not about memories and holding tightly on to that they are. Now… Nestra sing…"

He used 'the voice' on me, and command that was hard to resist and doing so wasted a great deal of time. I struggled, trying to ignore the sensation that compelled me to sing, then gave up. I glared and cursed Hades alternately.

Stupid love song, pointless, meaningless song, I groaned, means nothing. I glared at Artemis who smiled sweetly at me. Then I began with a deep breath and belted out the first note venomously.

"Love… that foolish emotion…

Always a thing know by fools

Love… nothing real or substantial

I never thought it was true

Never real

Never there

Never… until I found you."

I paused to take in breath and continued all the while shooting hard looks at everyone.

"It was nothing because… in the end it was all nothing without you.

I never knew it

Never felt it

Never grasped it

Therefore now…

When you have left me here alone

I do not miss you,

Because it is not real,

Never was

My heart no longer breaks

I no longer miss you

I am no longer lonely

Because before… I was never loving you

Because love was never true

Never true

Never something between me… and you."

I gasped for breath as the room erupted into shaky, ghostly applause.

"And I," Hades said smiling at his wife, "Am that fool, feeling a fool's emotion." He kissed her and she blushed a bright scarlet red.

"My thanks Hypermnestra, you have repaid your debt. You have honoured my home with your presence, and balanced out the evilness brought in by Eros. Artemis my dear, you are welcome at any time in my home."

"Hypermnestra… "

As I turned a ghostly glowing hand touched my shoulder.

"Step-mother…" I knew not what to say and for once I was at a loss for words.

I here arms she cradled a baby boy, his eyes were dull and obviously lifeless, having no memories to hold on to and not yet gained a personality to hold onto.

"I have very little time to say this as you should not be kept here for long. I will say what I will quickly and simply. Your father killed me and my child. He will kill you if he ever gets the chance or you give him the opportunity. Listen Hypermnestra, do not give him that opportunity. He will kill you without pity, remorse or mercy. You will never be allowed to marry Lynceus, so deep does his hatred run, his hate is far greater than any possible affection he feels for you or your sisters. Take care and watch out. Heed what I say, for as long as you are in is care and live with him, he will watch you , waiting for you to slip up. Do not make a mistake or become careless or else you will die by your father's orders."

I nodded and understood. I had no freedom while I lived even remotely near him and was under constant danger. Curses! What was death and danger to me but a shadow forever lived with and courted?

Curse curses curses!

I was still cursing as Eros grabbed my hand and Artemis the other.

"Death and Life opposites

Never side by side exist

Out of this realm into the other

Quickly now to Life we hurry

Bid goodbye to Death's sweet kiss,

But life is truly what we miss."

We said the words and I felt the strange jerk that pulled me out of Hades' world and pushed me back into my own world.

But as Hades' crest had said, the living pose a grater threat then that posed by the dead, how I longed to be back in a world not filled with cares and worries.

It is often said that duty is heavier than a mountain and death lighter than a feather. I had not truly understood that until now.

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 3000 words a go.


	22. The Sound of The Fifth Bell

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD!

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

For a person as laden down with troubles as I was, I fell into sleep's soft embrace rather quicker than expected. All the troublesome and worried thoughts rushing and jumping through my mind, screaming and vying for my attention, I pushed to the back of my mind to be dealt with later. The light grey of twilight faded under my tightly closed eyes and the sleep I had rapidly tumbled into to form a velvet black which faded to a pale purple orange and then the pale gold of morning which therefore signalled an end to whatever nightmare that held me in its thrall. I know that by now I should have rationally realised that whatever I dream in my nightmare was not half as bad as my father who seemed to be almost like a monster out of some sick, perverted person's dreams, but I had not yet conquered them.

Even though I slept soundly, I neither slept safely or securely for I tossed and turned so you would have thought me a common milk maid, laying on a wooden floor, with naught but straw between the two. Instead I lay upon a soft mattress filled with feathers, with no obvious reason for my discomfort, but there you are, riches are not everything and often cause unease.

In my dreams I ran… as hard and as fast as I could, because even though I was ahead, I had nowhere to go, and they had the advantage of speed, being on horses that I had had no time to buy, and they were quite simply and easily following the obvious, uncovered tracks that I had left in my wake. I looked about memorising all off the terrain so that when I woke up I would remember and know where it was, I was sure that it was Argive territory, in the country, miles away from the gates and no where near civilisation.

My hands bled from creepers and thorns that had tangled me up, pulled my hair and eagerly drawing my blood. My feet bled for whatever soft shoes I had worn had been ripped off and thrown carelessly away by rocks.

They would not catch me, and I would escape the prison I lived in. Just like a golden pampered cage is to a little songbird, so my home was my trap waiting to spring. I had no choice and no instructions, only the words of my stepmother echoing round and round in my ears.

Faster

Quicker

Move

They are gaining

Move

Get up and move!

Walk if needs be, just do not stay there

Faster

Quicker

Move

The words hummed and buzzed in my mind while I raced, tiring quickly, and the sudden spurt of speed gone. I will not be taken; will not let them take me back… I am determined… I am running once more. I gasp for breath but do not stop; to stop is to be returned to where I used to be. I gasped for breath but do not stop… never stop… I will … I must … I have to…

The adrenalin still running through my veins and the traces of the excitement of the chase gave way to baffled confusion as to where I was, specifically where exactly on Zeus' sweet Earth was I? Memories flooded back to me, the sting on my hands and feet more acute with every step, every move I took. The ever elusive peace of being free, almost but not quite like the bitter-sweet feel of Death, feeling all of my care worn burdens dripping away and then flooding back, one by one. I was not dead or in my dream, I was very much alive and in my reality.

For once I did not wake up cursing and groaning my visions. Instead I praised the Gods and sent them a silent prayer to thank them for guiding me and helping me to decide. The issue of what to do now had been solved, I would run away, back to Egypt, back to freedom, and escape this life where I lived as a leper. I would join Lynceus, we would marry, rule together, and forget our families and our many differences.

For some one who has been through as much as I have, I would have been astonished if they had naively dreamt up such an optimistic plan that bordered dangerously on that what a fool would have thought of. For my plan was a fool's plan, one that was never going to work and had been doomed from the start. How I thought I would get to my home land, a journey that had taken us more than two years, I do not know. I cannot honestly tell what I was thinking in the moment that I planned this harebrained escape but I could not have been sane or logically thinking, my apologies readers for forcing you to listen to this painful telling of how I escaped and how I was punished for doing so. It is embarrassing but fear not, I will not miss anything out.

I flung open the door to my room, but not before slapping and pinching my cheeks to give them a little extra colour so I looked feverish and throwing water over my face. I called for a servant to run and pass on a private message to Celcy, telling her that I was ill and unable to see her today. I made sure that the messenger was the biggest gossip and therefore most certainly unable to resist telling everyone he happened to meet that the Princess was ill, and in bed. It was fairly well known that I detested doctors and illnesses, therefore no body would find it odd if I did not call a physician. Tonight I would leave, while everyone was out partying, drinking and making merry, no one would miss me or take note of my absence and the leaving of one common servant girl lost in thousand who looked just like her.

I trimmed my hair, which had grown like a weed during my years of travelling and sickness. Once I had a few inches of it, I bundled it up and arranged it on my pillow, taking all my bedclothes and spare blankets I made a body shape underneath my thin quilt. Standing next to the door I checked to see if the fake body would work and persuade anyone that I was still there, sleeping in my bed. No one would be worried enough about me or brave enough to come any closer than the door.

Now… I got ready. I would buy a horse some time early in my travels and ride non stop, with only a few breaks to look after the horse, sleep for a little and eat. Maybe if my luck had been good I would have been able to have found some fellow traveller to ride with or even a group of gypsy people to offer me protection.

I took out the leather satchel and filled it with clothes, sturdy strong ones that I could change into after my masquerade as a servant. I grabbed another bag and took it with me to the kitchens where I begged food off the Head Chef who scowled good naturedly at me al the while piling the food into the bag. He thought I did not eat enough, little did he know that I ate more than what he prepared for my father! I showed my thanks by pressing a thin round silver coin into his hands, it was, I thought cynically probably more than he would see in a year if that.

Reaching under my mattress I pulled forth the sharp knife I had tried to threaten Celcy with, and leaning under the bed I lifted up a loose wooden board and pulled out a light sword Celcy had given me. It would not do much damage, but it looked as if it would and that was the most important thing, besides I would bet that any weapon in my hands could become something dangerous.

After pulling out a simple dress, stained and faded by time and much use, pilfered out of the servants laundry. I hid my head under a cape and pulled back my hair. Under my clothes I tied a pouch filled with coins and a few jewels that I could sell, to pay for the food I would need to buy on my journey and other things I would need.

I slipped out the window and wandered at the edge of a band of drunken youths. The guards at the first wall let us out of the city into the edges of the Argive domain without trouble, and I suspect that their passiveness had more to do with booze and tiredness than any sort of kindness. Nobody noticed a lone woman of questionable repute with a group of men; it was not really an uncommon sight in my times. However at the second gates the crowd of men dispersed, looking out for walking crates of alcohol that might possibly wander up to them and beg the men to drink them. I was left on my own to be questioned on where I was going by a guard who did not look as if he was but a day younger than my grand father's father. Images of children and grandchildren floated around him. Yet, he still radiated an air or violence and authority despite the age.

"Where, young lady, are you heading out to? You know that it is not safe for a girl to wander about these places unescorted."

I had not planned to travel to Egypt all by myself; rather, I had planned to hire a guide to come with me, as for being the defenceless little woman I was not too impressed with the image I had given the guard but it was different to who I really was so forced myself to play along.

"I thank you for your worry, but I am not going far and will travel with others whenever I can." I smiled sweetly at him, determined to maintain my dim façade. Imitating the cruder, more vulgar tongue of the common folk rather than using the High Language that I had been brought up using. The language I was used to speaking was a sharper more refined sound where every letter was definite and spoken, the common tongue was softer, and the vowels were emphasised and the consonants muttered more vaguely.

"Seeing family are you now miss?"

"No..." If I was to play the part of a normal girl than I would be more likely to sneak out past hours unescorted because I was going to see a man. "I am going to meet my young man, he says he loves me you know, and he's been waiting for me for so long. I do not think he will wait much longer, but you know he says that I am worth it." Disgusted by my behaviour and unsure on how I would prevent myself from laughing I bit my lip, and leaned closer to him as if I was telling him a secret, "He is very handsome you know and he says that he will marry me soon."

He winked conspiratorially at me and leered, "Lucky young man then."

I started and flushed, surely the man could not see past the end of his nose to say such a thing to me? I was no more good looking or a lucky present to a man than he was a young boy, the likes of which my sisters chased after.

He nodded at me then let me pass, with a whisper of "God's keep you lady, hope you get back safe." On my left and right, there were lines and lines of people, queuing, waiting for their guards to do the same thing as mine.

While I walked, preparing myself for a long hard night camping out on the floor, a loud noise rebounded off the ground and the walls, and I felt the sound moving the floor, the echoes going through me. One of them meant a fire at the palace, two meant a murder in the palace, three meant an invasion from the outside, four meant sickness or disease plagued the city, while five meant a runaway, an escapee from prison or some one important was missing.

BOING

The second ring of the bells rang through the city, spreading and touching everyone, moving as fast as wild fire. People stopped and stood still, the bells were only rung in emergencies. I continued walking and moved so fast it would have been considered almost running.

BOING

Third boing froze my blood, it was not a mistake or accident, and I silently prayed for sickness or disease upon my people, that the illness the slaves had been cured of was rampant and had spread. For if it had not then that would mean some one had noted my absence, realised the body I had left in my bed was not me, and had told my father. The escapee was me; the imprisoned princess. Everyone held their breath.

BOING.

Fourth echoed the third echoed the second echoed the first. Stop I prayed, no more bell chiming, no more sound from the brass bells. Silence filled the city, pure, sweet silence that relieved me. I savoured the silence before it was shattered, like seven years bad luck when a mirror is broken, the sound of the bells broke and cracked the harshness of the newfound peace.

BOING

I ran, along with all the other people who had managed to get out of the city. I did not need to turn around to see what was happening inside. It would be chaos, all the people who were waiting to get out would fight the guards who would have closed the gates instantly as soon as they had heard the fifth bell. There would be people inside who would be prepared to do anything, from killing the guards to climbing over the long, high wall, to get free. But then again… I realised… it was all worth it because… I was free!

Adrenalin pumping through my system silenced my aching, screaming for a respite, muscles. Fear of being caught and what I would do later was banished while all I could think of was getting out of the country.

Why had some one discovered my absence so quickly, I had though that it would

Have been at least three days, giving me a gross advantage making any chance of me being captured lesser. Now I had but hours.

A creak and screech of the gates being opened baffled me, why were they opening the gates? In an emergency, the gates were only opened by a member of the royal family or royal court, they should have been kept closed while the guards identified all of the people waiting to go and that would take ages to do. I turned around, disbelieving my ears. In the distance the sound of horses and men calling to each other froze my blood a second time. He had sent the cavalry after me, men on horses while I was on foot. My advantage was narrowed to minutes and it was disappearing quickly.

I ran into a heavily wooded forest, certain the men would dismount, unable or unwilling to bring their horses with them. I was only a little ahead of them, my hands getting scratched and I had not yet had any time to change my shoes so my feet hurt and were bleeding, my shoes lay in tatters, a while off, cut by rocks. My hair was loose and drifting about me in the breeze; it had pulled out of the ties that had bound it to me. It was due to my green cloak and brown clothes that I had quickly changed into that they did not automatically see me as I hid amongst creepers, leaves and branches. I moved slightly to change my weight from one foot to the other and one of the men shouted:

"There she is, go and get her."

I drew back from them and pulled out my sword, ridiculous I know, but I was at that moment prepared to kill them to be able to get away from my father. Whether or not it would even scratch them, that was another thing.

"Careful, get back, her father said she wasn't to be hurt, that would be his job." The men cackled, "And I do not want to see any of you lot hurt by her, hard enough to train the lot of you let alone find more of you when you are hurt or killed. Find a way to bring her with us without harming her and without getting yourself hurt." The leader, a tall, greying man barked out the orders showing his genuine affection for the men that hunted me like an animal, eventually trapping me in a circle. The same men that had laughed with amusement at my father 'dealing' with me.

I was scared, no, rephrase that, I was terrified, I spun round and turned, every face was hard, all looked the same; all stood the same, tall, unrelenting and unforgiving faces, unforgiving men.

"Well done men, you have her in a circle, with the sword, able to lunge and spike you through with it at any moment, how are you going to get closer enough to her to take it off her, or are none of you that brave?"

"I know a way." One of the men, quiet with big hands and soft eyes who looked as if he would be quite gentle away from his weapons spoke. He picked up a small round pebble and whispered a "Pardons miss for this, but it is necessary, sorry if it hurts but it is you or us if we do not come back with you."

In a hard throw the pebble flew through the air, and I turned, but was not fast enough and the pebble struck the back of my head. At first all I saw was a white blinding light, and then stars, and then blackness and I crumpled down on the floor.

Before I went completely I felt him take the sword out of my hands, heard them as they wondered about the dangerousness of it, then one of them, probably the one who threw the stone at me picked me up and carried me back.

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My eyes felt heavy and dull as I tried to open them. When I succeeded in opening them I tried to move my arms slowly and my legs, I could feel them, but I could not move them, what was a matter with me? Why could I not move, what had they done to me? What had happened to me? My memories were fuzzy as I tried to recall them; I remembered five bells, and a quiet voice saying sorry, then blinding white light and dizziness. I was lying on my stomach with my head turned and looked up when I heard some one approaching.

"Wondering where you are daughter? Well… you are in a secret place that I think only thieves and criminals were held in years again. This is the dungeons, and you know this is where you are going to be punished for disobeying me. You humiliated me by escaping, it made people ask… awkward questions… I do not want you running back home, back to that… thing you were involved with. So now you will be punished. But do not worry, she will try no to hurt you too much."

That man who hated me so much yet shared my blood went out of the room laughing at the thought of me in pain.

The maid came over to me and checked that all of the restraints were in order, the restraints that stopped me from moving, that had made me think for one horrifying second that I was once again paralysed. I tried to move, to break them I screamed and tried to bite her after I realised that they were not to be broken. All in vain.

She smiled, "You know this will cause maximum pain and leave minimum marks for people to see. We would not want to mar that horrible course brown flesh of yours would we."

Picking up one of the things that I could not see as it was out of my visual range next to her without even telling me she brought it down onto my back with a loud and painful crack. Taken off guards I gasped, but then bit my lip, determined more than anything not to cry or let her know that I felt anything at all. Wave after wave of pain flooded through me, through my back as I bit down harder and harder, tasting the bitter metallic taste of blood in my mouth and knowing that if I bit own any harder I would bit through my lip.

When she paused, finished and satisfied with her beating, I was wondering about becoming unconscious and I had bitten straight through my lip. She called for servants, those in my father pay that would probably die before this night was over, to come and collect me and bandage me up.

"By the way, if you need anyone to thank for your failed and pitiful escape, blame your nursemaid, Celecea, she found you were missing and sounded the alert. I thought that you might want to know."

With a passing smile at me she walked out of the room carrying my blood on her hands and on her clothes, for after all her promises, she had drawn my blood and that would probably scar me for life.

They placed me on my bed and called for Celcy. She came instantly, tutting and swearing, bringing with her bandages, ointments and salves, evidently the servants had told her of the state I was in. She took care of my back immediately, rubbing in creams that stung at first but took away the ache that the whipping had left on my skin.

"If I had known that evil man would do this to you I would have kept quiet. I would not have sounded the alarm if I had not thought he had taken you and had you kidnapped or killed. I swear one day I shall kill him, why did you not tell me of your plan to escape?"

"Because I only thought it up this morning and I wanted no one to know so that if you were interrogated by Danaus, you would not have to lie, you would be telling the truth, that you did not know what had happened to me."

It was then, as I felt the sting and the pain of my scarred back and touched the painful lump on the back of my head and my fingers came away from it with blood, that I knew, as certainly as I knew that some day Lynceus and I would kill my father for his crimes against both of us, I would kill her, soon, showing as much mercy as she herself had shown Aegyptus. She would die by my hands that much I knew. She had left her mark on me forever, and I would never forget the torment that her and that man had put me through.

What on Zeus' earth had ever created such a monster? What God had chosen to spare my father and his maid and let them live to carry out their evil plans, was that why Hades would not let me die, was it because I was needed to carry out the immortals' dirty work for them and kill my own flesh and blood and his servant.

Gods I feel depressed, maybe that after all this sadness her death will bring me joy, or is that a sick thought? Oh well… murder is a sick thing to do so it would make no difference.

**4,029 words! Yeah! My muse is still with me, praise it and review to keep it with me, I do not want to lose it!**

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 3000 words a go.


	23. The Murder of The Murderer

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD AND IF IT IS NOT GOOD THEN TELL ME!

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

**ALL THE KARATE OR OTHER TERMS USED ARE BORROWED OFF A WEBSITE, I DO NOT DO KARATE SO IF WHAT I SAY IS WRONG, TELL ME SO I CAN MAKE AMMENDMENTS. **

**Also, all male readers (if there is any) can you please review and tell me what you think from a different prospective because I think (but don't actually know) that all of my reviewers up to date have been female.**

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

I flew through the air with a sigh, almost making myself believe I had wings and was a bird, I am not mad yet mind you, just pretending. Weightless and effortless, filled with a grace that had never previously chose to grant me with her company. My foot stretched out in front of me, I moved into the Sokuto position, the side of my foot exposed and ankle bent side ways. My four toes folded down, touching the bottom of my foot and my big toe upwards. The hardest point on my feet, and the most likely part of it that would cause harm to the receiver of my delightful gift.

I descended with less grace and more speed. My foot hitting my opponent deliberately on the top of her head and not her neck, I did not want to seriously hurt her, only put her on the floor in a way that she would not get up easily. Right on target she fell. I had been quicker than usual and she had not even seen me coming towards her.

Falling in a way that made her landing easier she did get up, flipping her back into positions that I did not think a woman of age should be able to do when myself, being so inflexible and not in the slightest bit bendy, could not. She drew up her fist until it was level with her armpit, rotated it from being palm upwards then to the palm facing the floor. Her other hand doing the opposite, starting outwards then moving inwards towards her chest, the palm facing down then up, if I did not move or do something soon then one of her fists would move outwards into my face with a lot of power in revenge for the kick.

Her hips moved curving round at an angle of 45 degrees exactly, with her age and thin bones anything more would injure her back badly, her fist flew towards me. Not a second too soon but one or two a little too late I ducked, rather than hitting my face and breaking my nose, which was what she had no doubt intended to do, it knocked the top of my head. Hard and painfully and made my ear ring and ache. I scowled at her, the position of Seiken chudan tsuki had never been one of my favourites as I was hit often with it. She slapped my back without thinking and I winced, it was still healing, even though the bandages had come off and the scars were healing nicely to thin white lines.

"Revenge is sweet, is it not Nestra? I am not too old to spank your bottom or hit you like that, but I am far too old to be catapulted across the floor and do summersaults on the ground."

"All I can hope then Celcy is that your bitter revenge broke a bone in your hand or that it will have to be bandaged up well tonight."

Ignore the words, they mean nothing, we only bantered to try and get the other off-guard. Taking advantage of Celcy as she breathed hard, not watching me, I moved up my hands up to about waist height, one of my feet I turned to right angles to my body, while I lifted my leg with it bent at the knee then kicked out at Celcy, pushing her backwards onto the floor, where she stayed.

Heavily breathing she stared at the night sky. "Your first win and you deserved it, well done, you have learnt well and I regret that I have no longer anything left to teach you Nestra. Before… you were capable of looking after yourself, now… I greatly fear that I have turned you into something deadly and I pity the person who decides to pick out a fight with you, if they end up feeling half of what I am feeling at the moment."

I had won! For the first time I had won! I gave a loud shriek that made all the birds fly out of the tree squawking, and jumped up in the air laughing.

"No need to look too pleased with yourself, if I was your age, you would be the one lying on your ass on the floor."

"And if I could learn how to jump up in the air and kick people viscously, trying to kill one of the people who actually some how, amazing as it is, seem to like you, I too am sure that I would be able to beat you, as it is, being better looking than you and great deal more intelligent will have to suffice."

"Water!" I gasped at Eros, which was to be a huge mistake shown by the sudden sparkle of mischief that filled his eyes and face.

"Water?" He said with a wicked grin. "Okay… but remember that you asked for it."

Pointing a long finger into the air above my head, where his finger had been water flowed out of nowhere, onto my head, soaking me until my hair knotted up into thick tendrils that dangled down over my face and into my eyes. An additional bonus of the treat Eros had given me was that the water was ice cold.

I shivered and even though I was thirsty and my throat was a dry as lands that I have seen that were covered in sand and dry as dust, I would never, in the three ages past or yet to come, drink from that fountain created out of nothing by Eros, for starters the water had appeared from where his fingers had been, and I did not want to know where he had put his fingers recently. Secondly, there was probably some thing in it that would do something embarrassing and humiliating to me, like turn my hair red or my face green.

Only because I tell you, my readers, everything I have ever done, said or felt, will I tell you this, but when I had been a little girl, or rather a girl who had been smaller, I was innocent enough to have taken food off Eros. I had woken up the next day and scared the blonde hair off of my sisters and my step mother. For some reason I did not understand, me chasing my sisters and my step mother around the house with purple hands or orange hair or something like that, as they cried and screamed did not amuse them or my father in the way it had amused me.

"Here," Celcy passed me a cracked jug filled half full with clear water that tasted like the sweetest, most juiciest and thirst-quenching drink I had ever tasted, I honestly think that I am going slightly mad.

I drank the whole of it eagerly and gave it back to her. Then held out my hands, making them into a cup shape and I filled them with the water that followed me around and threw it at Eros, who missed when aiming for me and hit Celcy instead. However fast, smart or quick thinking gods are, really, they are but mortal deep down, and I am glad to inform you that when Celcy dove over me, tackling Eros to the floor, she was right on target, and him, pausing to flick water at me never saw her coming.

"Flick water at me again, you product of an insect and chicken, and I will make things that are rather essential to you, especially with you being a God of Love and all, very painful."

With her glowing eyes and snarling expression as she stood up and stared down at him I wholly believed her; Eros needed no convincing and cowered before her. That was prior to him swooping under her legs and swotting her backside.

"How dare you! You lousy pathetic excuse for a God, get back here and face me like a man, you weakling, you spawn of evil, you defiled me, you cowardly boy! Get back here and let me punish you!"

As you could probably tell from Celcy's ravings; Eros, not wanting to stay behind and most likely lose the few things that actually made him a man and not a girl, had vanished off some place where we could not find him and torture him.

I looped my arm around Celcy's neck and calmed her down as we walked back together, until she was no longer likening Eros to things that should not be repeated in front of any one let alone you, and was content to muttering things that promised Eros a rather unpleasant next meeting with her all the while looking as if she was eating rocks.

"Nestra…"

"Yes."

"Do you remember what you said to me when I was taking care of your back? When I had just come into the room"

"I was in pain and you had not at that point given me anything to ease it. I could have said any number of things." Mostly describing the deaths of my father and his maid but as ever I had to guard my tongue.

"Well… if you ever remember the specific thing that you told me about a certain person that has cause you trouble recently, not since your birth… well I think if ever you were to carry out that threat, well… I believe that you are perfectly capable of doing it now, in fact more than capable of dealing with her."

Celcy was giving me permission to kill the maid. She was telling me that I was now ready to do it; I had now the ability to kill that creature of nightmares.

"Thank you, I am glad that you consider me ready now."

Even though I knew the old woman disliked it and she detested anyone touching her I threw my arms about her and hugged her hard.

"I know that I have taught you everything and that now you have no need of me, but I would like to stay, and for Zeus' sake child get off me before you kill me and smother me. Be careful, I wish to see my nephew's children, watch them grow up and tell them all about how bad their mother was when I first started to teach her."

"I am not having children."

"Nonsense girl, what are women made for if not to bring up children and make men's lives a misery?"

"I think that I will stick to making his life a misery thank-you very much."

"One quick question…"

I cold not, by now, keep the smile from splitting open my face, it cracked wide open and it was plainly obvious that what I was going to ask about have little to do with killing people and more to do with teasing Celcy.

"Defiled you?" I raised an eyebrow and looked with a great deal of interest at her.

She screamed and chased me over the lawn on which we had been practising on. Always never far behind me, and the dust I kicked up from my heel she trod on seconds after it had settled. I swear that she had magical powers.

I shrieked; only the God's know what she would do with me after saying something like that to her. She had once held y head in a water barrel, underneath the dirty, undrinkable water, for minutes, then let me up t take a gasp of air just to push me back down again, and that was only for asking what precisely had her relationship been with Aegyptus. Gods that woman was sensitive and had a temper on her!

Before she ran into me and managed to tackle me down to the ground and then beat me to death for saying that, a window opened; literally. Well… it is often said that when a door closed there is always a window left open, well, my door of possibly apologising to Celcy had gone, she was so mad that it would be days if not weeks before she would be safe to approach, so my only window was to join Eros in his hide-out, safe from Celcy's wrath.

Holding out a much needed hand that I was only too happy to grab hold of and never let go, he hauled me into the window that he had opened out of the fresh air. With a grunt and poisonous mutterings about how much I weighed exactly, I was pulled up into what I believed was Eros' world.

"Hello Nestra, shall I assume that you are here for the very same reason that Eros is?"

Artemis, beautiful, unruffled and undisturbed about strangers entering her domain, sat there looking as if she had been laughing at us as we travelled away from Celcy.

"I wanted a safe place, and as it turned out, Artemis, as sensible as she is hardly ever gets into trouble."

"Unless you come along and blame the mess that you make onto me." Artemis hissed.

"So therefore this is where we will be staying for now."

Eros beamed at Artemis who looked as if all she wanted to do was hit him hard, which is what she did.

"Not fair, you froze me!"

"I suppose telling Zeus that it was me who hid all of his lightening bolts in the lake in Stymphalos was funny was it?"

"Why Artemis, tell me what happened, please, I promise that I will hit him for you." I begged her to, seeing Eros rolling around the floor in hysterics of laughter I knew that whatever he had done this time must have been good.

"Well… Zeus being Zeus is not exactly the brightest star in the sky even in the best of times. Well, he was drunk at the time, rode off in his chariot, came to the lake and then got attacked by a get deal of hungry, man-eating Stymphalian birds. Being immortal he came back only with cuts and bruises, but his self-esteem took just a little dent in it and he was furious at the two of us. Even though I told him it was Eros, he still thought the two of us had cooked that ridiculous plot up together."

Eros gasped for air and said, "It as only because she is his daughter that he did not strike her down with his bolt of lightening when he realised everyone was laughing at his."

"Bet your mother will be pleased about this Eros. Has Zeus had 'words' with her yet?" Rather than sobering him up as mention of his mother usually did, it made his worse.

"No, I do not think he will because he is too embarrassed to tell anyone. That is the genius of it all, he will not tell anyone so therefore my mother will never know because she was not at his party that he was throwing when he got drunk."

"Eros I do believe that you have well and truly lost your mind this time, what on Zeus' earth were you thinking when you planned this? Were you out of your mind?"

"And why did you blame it on me? I mean even though he is my father, he still would have killed me if I had not said your name very quickly at that moment."

"It makes it even better. He will forget about it because everyone thinks it was just Zeus being Zeus, and no one thinks you would ever do such a thing, you look too innocent."

"INNOCENT!" She screamed.

"I'll give you INNOCENT you lowlife rat."

She ran about chasing him then transfigured him into the insect he truly was, by the time Artemis had the grace to change him back into a man, by the looks of it he was not going to think about pulling something like that again, at least not for a few days anyway.

I lay on the floor and looked up at the sky, in Artemis' world, the stars constellations at night filled the heavens with rays of shining light, I could see Camelopardalis; the Giraffe, Cassiopeia; Queen of Ethiopia, and Lyra; the Lyre. Her world was such a peaceful place to be in.

"Time to go Nestra, you have something to do now."

"One moment longer and then I will go."

As I lay back, I dreamed…

_Was I the hunter or the hunted? Who could tell? All I knew was that the deepest of shadows cloaked and hid me much better than the black robe she was wearing._

_I crept along the edges of the wall, she knew I was there but would say nothing until I had made my move, and I was not going to speak until I had her right where I wanted her._

_Finally she was there, in the gardens, in the dead of night, in a place that I had chosen, I would be setting the rules for this fight, I would be in charge and no one else. Where no one would hear her cry or see her as she fell from this world into the next, where no one would see who had killed her. _

"_It is now that we settle this." Addressing her or calling her by anything was an insult to anyone else who shared her name so I refrained from doing so. _

"_Now…" She whispered, already anticipating her win, eyes gleaming, a big toothy grin making her seem even more sinister in the moonlight that avoided her face and kept it in the dark, while all around her was lit up._

"_Now…" I echoed. Now this would be ended and she would die. _

I woke up with a jolt, feeling like I had been asleep hours when I knew that it had been more like seconds. Another vision that pointed me in a direction, honestly could the Gods not trust me enough to let me get on with my own life and make my own decisions.

"We knew you were out so we just left you there. What did you see Ness?" Eros and Artemis spoke together, then realising what they had just done, still being mad and hating each other, they turned around so that their backs faced each other.

"Death coming towards some-one who deserves it for once, instead of those who do not."

They knew what I had seen and of whom I spoke of, it was unnecessary to tell them what had happened to me. I left quiet and thoughtful, preparing myself for that time tonight when I would take another's life. Would I be able to? Yes, that woman deserves to die, if not for what she had done to me, but for what she did to my uncle. Aegyptus will never see his sons, apart from Lynceus, have children, and never get to see his great-grandchildren. That evil thing had taken all that away from him and him away from me.

I walked back to my room and got changed into clothes that were better suited to fighting seriously in, tight, black but comfortable. I then got out a voluminous robe and a hard stiff board to place around my back. I already knew what I would do; I had my plans laid out already.

I went in search for her, knowing that she would have got my note and should be walking down to the gardens by now. I had told her to meet me there to settle our differences; it did not take a genius to work out what I had meant.

I walked out of the shadows and called out to her,

"It is now that we settle this."

"Now…" She whispered, already anticipating her win, eyes gleaming, a big toothy grin making her seem even more sinister in the moonlight that avoided her face while all around was lit up. I shivered from something that had less to do with the cold and more to do with the coldness inside of her, the ice where there should have been heat.

"Now…" I echoed. Now this would be ended and she would die.

With lightening speed she chose my least favourite position and hit me with full force across my face. How I detested Seiken chudan tsuki, not anticipating it I moved quickly but too late although her fist caught my cheekbone rather than my nose thankfully.

I leapt into the air above her and gave a loud cry; I soared over her, revelling in her shocked expression. That was not something she had anticipated! Folding my thumb into my palm and aligning my fingers together, with the hard muscle at the side of my hand I moved it down as I descended towards her, fast and in one quick motion, I had hit her on the weak point of her head. In any normal person that would have been enough to trigger unconsciousness, but either she was no normal person or I had performed the very thing I had been learning for months wrong.

She fell to the floor in a heavy pile, but suddenly reached out her hand and grabbed my leg, effectively if somewhat simply, pulling me to the ground. Flipping herself upright swiftly in on the moves that I greatly envied Celcy for, I was still thinking about getting up when she launched herself into her next attack. Jumping into the air above my back, she moved into the Hidji position, I was on my back, unable to move fast enough, as she fell through the air, the long muscular part of the arm next the elbow making contact with my back in a move that should have paralysed me.

I screamed in pretence of an agony that I should have been feeling, due to the stiff board I was wearing underneath the big robe I was in pain, but nothing like what I should be feeling. I howled and curled up in a protective ball, acting out the pain that I had known so well at the hands of the woman looking at me in fascination. She liked watching me in pain, I realised, she was sick… something about her was just plain wrong.

She smiled evilly again, and whispered, loud enough for the wind to carry it to me, "I will not kill you, fear not my girl, just leave you in enough agony so that you will know fear the next time we meet, but not so much as to make you abandon your arrogance and pride and not try to best me again. You will know pain, every time we meet. Soon, you will enjoy it and loathe the times when you have it not."

The woman made me feel physically sick; if she was dealing with my father and acting on his command what sort of man was he? But it was time to end this now, time to think about things would come later, she turned as I knew she would to leave, not thinking that I could take advantage of her weakness, she thought me paralysed on the floor.

Quietly and softly I rose from where she had left me. Creeping forward much better than the time I had tried to do it when trying to sneak up on Celcy and had fallen over, I stalked her until she was right where I wanted her. I spun around, knowing that speed was less important now than precision, I moved my arm so I could have more power in my kick, bent my leg at the knee and kicked out, catching her at the end of her spine, she fell to the floor face first, exposing her back to me. It was then that I used her own move against her, a pure white skull floating above her head. Only this time, where she had the Hidji position on my spine in an effort to cause the greatest pain, I used it at the nape of neck, where it would bring no pain, but instant death, quick and welcoming.

The crack of her bones breaking told me that she could not still live, but caution prevailed against common sense and I rolled her over to check her pulse on her neck. I almost wish that I had not for her eyes, open with death's glare, will haunt me for the rest of my life, I closed her eyes and left her there. Knowing inside that the last act of dignity that I had shown her was more than she deserved, knowing that forever I would live with the fact that I had killed some one. Even though my mind, as practical as ever, protested that she had deserved none of the peaceful and merciful death that I had granted her.

I fell to sleep with my eyes clenched tightly, wanting, hoping beyond all reason that when I woke up, the sight of her dead body would not consume me.

I thought blindly of Lynceus and all the things that he had suffered through her actions, Aegyptus and his sons who were almost orphans now. Trying to justify me killing her worked little in relieving my guilt or making me feel better. Hopefully, time, that healer of most wounds would work her loving magic.

4, 216 words yeah! Review and praise the muse and the God of creativity, tell who she/he is if you know please

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 3000 words a go.


	24. My Guardian

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD AND IF IT IS NOT GOOD THEN TELL ME! Also go and read my best friends stories, especially 'if you are what you are not.'

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

**As no one reviewed claiming to be male and giving their point of view, I will assume that all my readers are female.**

**TO ALL THOSE WHO MISS LYNCEUS AND ASKED TO SEE HIM AGAIN, UMMM…. IS NOW A GOOD TIME TO TELL YOU THAT HE DOESN'T REALLY FEATURE MUCH IN MY PLAN FOR ANOTHER (mumbles so you won't hear) **4 chapters**, SORRY BUT HE WILL RETURN, I PROMISE, PLEASE DO NOT THROW THINGS AT ME (ducks down behind computer just in case.)**

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

A hand grabbed my shoulder and shook me hard, wrenching me from dreams involving lands that had previously been unknown to me that I could now identify as Argive Royal gardens. A little boy with brilliant green eyes and long, gently curling hair played with two girls; two girls who were identical to the last eyebrow and eyelash. Their eyes sparkled with black fire, mischief and the feeling youth has that tells you that you are invincible. Their wild curly hair was a bizarre shade of reddish brown that sparkled copper when the light chose to touch them and an almost dark brown when it chose to forsake them. All three were thin little grasshoppers, their long limbs too big for their age.

In the middle of the shrieking and noise were two men, who had more than likely caused more than half of the said noise and shrieking, I am sure that without me telling you, readers, that you could guess who they were; Lynceus and Eros. Both were lying on the floor and were unable at the moment to get up. Eros was being crushed by the delicate twins who were tickling him and screaming as he tickled them back, while Lynceus was holding the boy above his head, soaring and swooping through the air. It was hard to tell who was older out of the five, and out of my three children, but as I had already seen my son before and he was certainly acting a great deal more mature than the giggling duo and Eros on the ground, I was certain that he was older.

There I was, standing in front of them, watching through my own eyes, eyes that were so familiar to me, yet so alien as well. They were my eyes but there was nothing about me that I recognised. At the moment I was fighting the feeling that was forcing me to laugh. Two women appeared next to me, but to call one of them a mere woman and therefore brand her as human would be a crime for she was so much more than a mortal girl, yet in some ways less than mortal too. In her arms, held tightly and safely was a baby. Not just any baby but a baby with soft tufts of hair that was truly a fire red, and eyes that were vivid green. Another girl, another daughter, my heart thumped violently against my chest and I could not speak let alone move while I looked at her. She giggled and cooed as Celcy wiggled her fingers in front of her. I reached out and took my baby out of Artemis' arms. Her and Celcy frowned at me as though I had denied them food.

"Another girl." I was not saying this, my mouth was moving and sound came out but I was not saying it. It was not my heart that was thumping wildly or my eyes that widened in wonder at the little one sleeping in my arms. My little one with my eyes and my mother's hair.

"I like my girls, all four of them, and my boy, but you know that I like you best of all."

"You," I said scowling playfully at Lynceus as he looped his arms around my waist and rested his head on mine, "Like girls too much, this is our fourth child, no more."

"Not my fault." I snorted, so… even in the future, even with children I was not so different.

"Whose fault is it then? Eros' or Artemis'?" He touched the baby's head gently and sighed contentedly.

"Happy?" He whispered in my ear, tickling it.

"As happy as I can be sharing my life with you." We shared a laugh between us. As we watched, my boy, my two daughters, and Artemis sat on Eros and tortured him. By the time they had let him get up; he staggered over to us and gasped,

"I am never coming here again. Nestra, your daughters are copies of you, demons sent to torture me for the rest of my days, Lynceus, you are meant to be my friend but your son is as bad as the terrible twin cackling over there. As for Artemis, you were meant to be my friend. Women," He said, facing my son and adopting a stance as if he was going to deliver a lecture, "Cause trouble and sweep up innocent men into it."

He reached for my baby, and when she began to wake up, he started rocking her until she closed her tiny little eyes again, his fingers entwined with her miniature ones. Bending his head down closer to her he whispered so quietly, thinking that no one else was looking or listening. "Except for you little angel, for you I would do anything, I will have to make trouble for you to get into, will I not?"

From looking at Eros, framed by the sun, holding my flesh and blood, and next to him Artemis and Celcy as them all gazed adoringly at her, they would do anything for her. I opened my eyes to look into Eros' face once more, only it was night, and he was no longer holding my daughter. Celcy was gone and Artemis was next to him.

"I told you no to wake her up, she was having a vision."

"Nestra, do you have any idea of how hard you are to wake up? I have pushed you, pinched you, said your name repeatedly and still you sleep on."

I looked around in confusion, part of me still in the dream, in the future, yet part of who I will be still inside me.

"Where are the children?" Then I realised what I had said and mentally slapped myself.

"What children, who said anything about children… wait…" Eros paused, and then he and Artemis said together, "There were children in your vision, more than one."

"Yes, Eros was in a fight with identical twin girls, he lost and they won."

They did not believe me, but I quickly changed the subject whilst thinking of what I had seen.

"What did you want? Aside from making my life a living hell."

"I thought that was your father's job, have you given me his job and deprived him of it, you cruel person."

"Whatever Eros, you do more than his fair share anyway, the only reason I am here is to help her put up with you."

While they argued I thought about things. Me! The mother of not just one child, but four of them! It really was unbelievable, it really was. I had been happy and my children were not only screaming banshees but little demons-in-training from the way they had been fighting with Eros. But still, I had been happy and I could not for the life of me understand why I had been that happy. My children, aside from the baby who would not doubt end up screaming, were crazed lunatics, all of them. As for giving birth to twins, well… sorry but there was no way in Hell that was going to happen… at least I did not think there was, well… I hoped there was not. I almost hoped there was no way, almost hoped but not quite. My arms remembered the weight of my tiny baby and her eyes, the eyes of the twins, the eyes of my boy, Lynceus' eyes. Gods! I am going crazy at last!

"What do you want?" I shouted it at them and they froze in their argument, insult throwing and fighting, then Artemis answered.

"We have something to show you."

She grabbed one arm and Eros took the other, together for once without fighting they pulled out my soul and dragged my out of my bed and into Eros' world.

I flopped down onto the floor and fell back to sleep, because it was the middle of the night and even if my body was still in reality, here in Eros' world, my soul was tired too.

The so-called immortal who was meant to be my best friend sat on my and readers did he weigh a lot!

"Here, come on, you man's put a lot of effort into this so open your eyes now and stop being lazy."

I grabbed his feet, knowing his weaknesses and how to exploit them, he fell over Artemis who was lying next to me, and using my imagination I twisted the landscape of his world do that he fell into a pond filled with freezing cold water that I added as a bonus.

"Hey… first your children, fiends that they are, attack me and beat me up, then you abuse me too. All I can possibly say is like mother like children."

"Who said anything about the children being mine?"

"Why would you dream about another person's children?"

"I am going crazy, so I will dream about anything that makes no sense. Now give me it.?"

"Give you what?"

"Give me whatever Lynceus has given you to give to me."

They handed me a paper flower, shaped like an agapanthus bud, my favourite flower. I gently opened each of the delicate petals to find a drawing on ach petal, showing me what had happened in Death when I had gone to rescue Lynceus. There were six petals, me walking up to him; anger in my eyes, me hitting him hard, me holding his face and crying; trying to tell him his name, that one I ignored, me kissing him, and I was not too pleased about that one either, me in Lynceus' arms, holding him, and then the last of me being dragged away from him. I really did not think much of this gift, it seemed more like something that he could use to emotionally black mail me with, seeing as my time in Death was the most humiliating time in my life.

In side the paper flower was a tiny real flower, a little forget-me-not. That was the real message, he had not forgotten me even though my family was to blame for him father's death and his illness, and he did not want me to forget him. The drawings were just there to irritate me.

"Very good with his hands as well as at drawing." Artemis glared at Eros, "Is he not?"

"I would not know Artemis," said Eros with a grin and wink at me, "Ask Nestra and she will tell you whether he is good with his hands or not."

I vanished and reappeared behind him to push him on his face.

"We have been thinking about you and Lynceus and decided that it is too dangerous for you to receive anything from him, letters, drawings and things like that unless you are here in my world or Eros'. No contact with each other otherwise, your father might find out and he will be sure to try again at killing Lynceus if he does."

I thought that the years and months and weeks and days without Lynceus, waiting for something to happen so we would be together again would pass by slowly, but really they flew by. I waited for Lynceus to get well and recover, and then the four of us would find out a way to get rid of Danaus.

The year passed me by one after the other like leaves as they fell from a tree, brown and golden in Autumn, to be replaced by bareness and cold in Winter, then green buds in Spring, and then greenery and finery of Summer. I was now twenty-two, a confirmed spinster, but did I care? No!

One of the first things I had done after killing the maid was question Celcy about where she had learnt all of her moves from and why they were in a different language that I had never heard of. She said that she had travelled into far and distant lands while she was training as a warrior, where she had learnt all about their language and how to fight. She had kept me interested for months telling me about the strange people in the foreign land, the food they ate and their culture. That I am happy to say took up a lot of time that we had previously spent fighting and practising, we still did some times but only to make sure that I did not grow too lazy and I did not forget.

I still asked about Lynceus and how he was every time I saw Artemis and Eros. I missed him, but still had to get on and live without him. I had no friends here except for my immortal guardians and Celcy, and although I neither wanted nor needed friends when I had Eros and Artemis, I was often lonely and they could not be there with me all the time. As for Celcy, if people started to notice how close we were then she would be the next one to die and I did not want that to happen.

I sent a letter to Psyche, wondering if she would like to come over to stay for a while with me here, but she sent me a reply saying that she would not be allowed and her father, after hearing about the market all those years ago and the prophecy concerning her and the monster that was stronger than Zeus, would not let her out of the palace and the palace grounds. She was a prisoner in her own home just like I was, not allowed to escape because she was so noticeable in a crowd and that crowd would probably treat her as a leper, throwing things at her, shouting at her and threatening her, only if they did, there would be no Eros this time to protect her from them. She wrote to me telling me that although she could not come and she regretted that, she had sent me a surprise.

Wondering what it was and when it would arrive, I fell into yet another vision.

_I walked into my room, thinking that there was a strange noise coming from there, like a yowling and crying of an animal in pain, and froze. There on the floor lay a beautiful girl, long grey hair in tight braids close to her head, framed a tiny face. She opened her mouth and cry out in agony, her amber eyes twisted shut in pain. _

_She looked as if she was but sleeping through a nightmare if you could forget the fact that all I could see was a skull deathly white and pale above her head, and the fact that blood pooled about her, seeping out from the wooden stake pushed into her stomach._

_My heart broke again as I saw her, and even though I knew her not, in this vision I must have known her for I ran up to her and silently stroked her hair back off her face. Her tiny body, small enough to be a young girl in the first flush of youth but it had been years since she had been one, struggled for breath. To find the energy and life within her to live long enough to gasp out her last words._

"_Do not blame yourself Nestra, I have died in the service of great woman. You have done me great honour by being my friend. We know that this day had to come, you saw it, you were prepared."_

"_Death has no preparation. You were never in my service, you were my friend not my servant. Who did this, tell me please," I moved her so she lay into my arms and I held her so that she did not feel alone when she passed over. _

"_I am not going to for you will exact punishment onto her… and I do not want you to carry around another… death on your shoulders, you… feel too much guilt… as it is. But she… may try to hurt you… so I will tell you…it was…" Her voice faded and her eyes rolled back and closed, the struggled breathing stopped and her head fell limply to the side._

_As I looked up after shedding more than one tear over my friend no doubt dead because of me and say something in the shadows. Some one was watching me as I grieved for my lost friend, the same person who had killed her. She stepped out of the shadows._

My eyes shot open in the instant that she had stepped out and I was left with nothing but a strong feeling of recognition rather than shock or betrayal, I had not been surprised at whoever had killed this woman. My cheeks were once again damp and my eyes once more haunted through knowledge none but immortals should have, that another person I would grow to love was going to die.

I sat up in bed and cursed myself, wherever I went and whatever I did, death and destruction followed me around to reap havoc on all that loved me and on everyone who I loved.

That day started off like many before it, after waking up from visions of people dying in civil war, and me in eternal and never-ending punishment in Death. Only this time it was different for I had never had that vision before. I was sitting with Celcy who was trying her hardest to teach me how to play the lyre. As surprising as it is to watch Celcy, who had beaten Eros, cradle her lyre lovingly and play such delicate music on it, it is true. I had laughed the first time I had caught her playing it in secret at mid-morning but unfortunately was unable to sit down again comfortably for a week afterwards. She told me firmly that if I could sing as beautifully as I did, why could I not learn play an instrument just as beautifully. Sadly, I played worse than Proteus and I cringed every time I touched the strings which did not improve my playing and rather made it worse.

Whilst being lectured on the correct way to place your fingers of the lyre and the correct position to hold it, I had drifted off into a daydream, ignoring her and thinking pleasantly of other things.

I was drawn so much into this daydream that I was shocked out of it with a jolt when I felt a small thing jump into my lap. I looked down at whatever it was. On my knees lay a soft, small, grey striped kitten with beautiful amber eyes that gazed at me with an unnerving human look, taking every detail of me in. Amber eyes reminiscent of they eyes of the woman who had died in my arms. After deciding that I was otherwise harmless, she wrapped her long tail tightly about her and slept, softly snoring. A red ribbon was tied around her neck with a small capsule attached to it. Without waking the cat I pried open the metal capsule and took out the piece of parchment inside it.

_Hello Nestra, four years have gone past quickly, but I still remember that day as if it was yesterday, you told me that if ever I needed you all I had to do was sent word and you would do everything in your power to help me, well… now I am glad to return that favour and do everything in my power to help you feel better._

_Her name is Greer and I think that once she has finished sleeping, I will tell you now that she does that a great deal, that you will find her very interesting, remember that all is not as it seems. I learnt that off a friend, the very same person who gave Greer to me. _

_I wish I could be there with you but I cannot. Remember me and take care of Greer, she requires a lot of attention, but most magical beings do. _

Greer… the guardian, was that name chosen by Psyche unthinking or not? For a ten year old she sounded very old for her age, forced like so many others like her to grow up quickly.

She stretched and yawned, then jumped down, me and Celcy watched her closely, fascinated, wondering what would come next. Under our intense stares she transformed right in front of us.

Her legs grew and changed colour from a grey to a flesh colour, her front legs changing too. Her face transformed from a cat's face into a human girl's face, the eyes did not alter though, they were tilted slightly giving her a foreign look, and her hair was as grey as her fur had been, long and almost reaching the floor. While I said that her legs grew, they did not grow much and she remained small; a small girl with a white skull floating onto of her head. My heart fell straight through my body and thudded onto the floor.

Tilting her body towards me in a cat-like languorous way she said to me softly,

"You are the one I have been told about, Hypermnestra." She spoke with an almost untraceable accent that rolled all the consonants into one sound, very reminiscent of a cat's purr.

"You have to go back to your previous owner, Psyche; you cannot stay here with me."

"Why can I not? Are you displeased with me?"

"Because I bring death to everyone, and you are one of those who will die because you are associated with me."

"Then…" She paused looking about the room, "I will die in the service of a great woman, great because of her power, a Princess, but also because she cares for others, you would have me sent home because you think that some day I will die."

"I do not think, I know. Please, I cannot go through another death."

She approached me slowly, cautiously, because I sat in a chair, she had to bend over slightly to become level with my face. She looked me right in the eye and said,

"I am not scared of Death, it comes to everyone, mine will come sooner because one year for you will be about sixteen years for me, then the next year I will be twenty-one, then all the other years after that I will age four years. Psyche has given me to you, if you return me then there must be something wrong with me, you also risk insulting her too. I will be proud to guard you and be your servant if you let me, and if I die serving you then I will have died with honour."

"Never a servant, I have enough of those, Psyche sent me to you for you to give me companionship; for you to be my friend. I have too few of those as it is."

She nodded and smiled, her lips curving upwards and making her even more beautiful.

"Are you a cat or a human?" Celcy asked as bluntly as ever, wanting to knw all about her, itching to ask questions.

"I am both, Artemis made my mother's grand-mother's mother years ago, we can change at will our shapes from human to cat. I am unique, none of my brothers or cousins or relatives look like me, none sound like me, we are all different."

She sat down next to me, so small, next question.

"How old are you?"

"I am a year old, which makes me sixteen in your years."

Together we asked Greer so many questions that she soon tired of them and changed back into a little kitten, and quickly fell asleep next to me, purring slightly as I stroked her fur.

At nights it was not so lonely anymore to feel the small weight at the bottom of the bed, knowing that she was always there, awake if she heard any noise or movement. Every night she would sleep there on my bed, I watched in disbelief as she did it the first time, but try to move her as Eros had and you got the wrong end of her claws dug into you. Eros ended up with more than a few scratches from trying to do that. I was more sensible and simply accepted the fact that she would not move.

I no longer was in need of a friend as I taught Greer all about the human world, how to act, talk and dress. She learnt quickly and taught me that Death was never to be feared, only welcomed for it was not an end but simply a different beginning into a different life. I never stopped worrying about when I would lose her though, and I always watched her, making sure she was alright.

4, 144 words! Sorry about Greer but there is a point to her in the story promise! It is a little strange, but umm… do you like her or not?

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 3000 words a go.


	25. You Must Pay the Price

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD AND IF IT IS NOT GOOD THEN TELL ME!

Also go and read my best friend's stories, 1madcat, especially 'if you are what you are not.'

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

My hand slid along the surface of a small, cool pool, destroying the calm and creating ripples where previously only stillness had flourished. I looked past my reflection, it was nothing interesting to look at and I had seen it time and time again, to see the trees, leaves wilting and drooping all about me, the grass, brown and dry and crumbling beneath the weight of my feet. I was curled up thinking in a place that reminded me so much of where I used to go to find peace. The burning sun, a wavy circle of fire, glared white and scorching, high in the sky. It was hot, too hot surely for what should have been the middle of Autumn? Summer was maintaining a harsh grasp on these lands, very harsh in comparison to the ordinarily greenery and humid lushness of this land that I had learnt over the years to call my home. It was extremely reminiscent of my old lands, over which Lynceus and his brothers now ruled, but I suspect that they were ruled more by his brothers, for Lynceus did not have Celcy to take care of him and was taking his own sweet time in the recovery process.

My old lands where rain had come sparsely and only for a short time, except for a few, strange times in that dry desert where I used to live. Water had been a precious commodity and seeing it used for ornament and visual pleasure rather than for simply washing or drinking was still bemusing. There was a great deal I had yet to learn still, even after six years spent melting in this somewhat oppressive greenery. One might have called this place paradise, me, I called it a jungle of humidity and stupidity.

Thinking of Egypt made me think of all the times I had spent bathing in pools of water I had found on various travels, hoping to find a way to get rid of the heat. Water in a dry land was not to be ignored, my maids used to have to walk to the nearest water, and then carry big metal buckets to and from them, climbing up all of the stairs on the way, that water was often left in my room for weeks until it was absolutely necessary for them to change it again. I cast a suspicious glance about, looking for non-existent people. The ponds of clear blue water were maintained by servants who came in the morning and vanished after doing their job. The water had the misfortune of being in my area of rooms, remote and well away from civilisation. No one came of left without me knowing, and I can tell you that I know that they never came near me.

To all other appearances a grey cat sat at the edge of one, hypnotised by the fish that resided in half of the pools of water, staring, hoping to charm them right out of the water, she was perfectly capable of doing it too! She purred slightly and stretched languidly, dipping a paw in, the reaching closer and closer until the inevitable happened, and with a splash and a yelp, the scrap of grey fluff fell into the lipid silence that became a flurry of movement as fish swam to the furthest corner away from the predator and the cat tried and failed to regain her dignity as she regained her place back on the side.

Time froze for her as limbs elongated and morphed from animal to human with surprising quickness. Her amber eyes gleamed with a silent reproach as she watched me doubled over in laughter. Pointing her small sharp nose in the air, she sniffed and with a toss of grey hair over her shoulder, she stalked off in the opposite direction to me, leaving behind an air of offence and indignation. The small girl who had told me that she would be honoured to die in my employ, had become a woman older than me, that was still small but, shall I say, a little less overawed with who I was.

Her pale body glistened naked in the sparkling sunlight, she still had not learnt how to morph and retain some clothing, with a scowl at me she leapt into the air, using skill that she had been unable to teach me, with a cat-like grace, diving into the pool that I had been contemplating, she therefore effectively drenched me. I cast another look around, sorely tempted now.

"I will tell you, Nestra, when there are people about, worry not, I am your guardian. Gods! You humans are such prudes, I see not why you are so… worried about people seeing you, there are so many things that you have tried to teach me that I have not yet understood. You are such interesting creatures, you really are, such fascinating things, made in the image of the Gods, yet so much more than immortals, you lead such puny lives and somehow manage to fit as much as you can into them. So interesting, I really find you fascinating Hypermnestra, I really do."

Greer had rapidly adopted our swearing and the words that Eros used frequently and the more inventive ones that I dished out, saying them oddly with that slight lilt of hers, yet still failed to understand the simple things that were just simply not done. As for finding me interesting, well she was the one who could change from a cat to a human at will, could you get more interesting than that? I think not! As for puny lives and me being a prude, well, I may be slightly concerned about certain things, but that was only because I wanted to make perfectly clear to all that I was not my sisters.

But with that I took off the thin robe that I had been wearing and left in only my shift I jumped in after her. The ponds so deep that I could not stand up in them, my shoulders stung in the cold water, telling me that I had spend too much time out in my sleeveless robe without applying a cream that Celcy had given me to stop myself from burning. I was already a deep brown all over but however long Greer sat outside with me as I talked and told her things and she asked questions, she never tanned or burned, and always remained a pale cream.

We played and splashed each other for a while, enjoying the coolness that was relief to the burning sun. Then we paused and floated for a while, I sighed and day dreamed. Wondering what Lynceus was doing, was it this hot in Egypt, was it worse or had Autumn already started to bring coolness?

As I thought a black shadow fell upon me, the absence of the sun, shaded by some one above me was obvious, I screamed, and opened my eyes. Unfortunately I was blinded momentarily by the sun and unable to see who it was. As the spots on my vision cleared I scrambled out to the side and hastily pulled back on my robe. The person who had politely turned the other way, desperately trying to ignore Greer turned a scarlet red.

I hissed at Greer, "Get your cat behind over here and put on some clothes, this person is important and at the moment, he is feeling really awkward because of you now move! Now!"

Obediently she moved next to me and became pulling on the share set of clothing that I brought about everywhere with me. I turned around and greeted the Argive King as politely as I could possibly have done. I blushed furiously as he turned around, eyes clenched together, trying so carefully not to offend me.

"You can open your eyes, Your Highness… how can I assist you today… Pelasgus?"

The King was nothing like my father, he was quiet and mild, sensitive and a rather weak person. There was nothing aggressive or violent about him and while he was rather clever, all in all he was not a good ruler, an alright ruler, but not a fabulous one or spectacular one either. He was small and overweight, going bald and was a good fifteen years older than my father.

He blinked at me for a few minutes, dazed by the sun and smiled faintly at me. Surprising as it is, we got on quite well, it had been a chance meeting over a year ago when he had learnt that Danaus had another daughter, one that he had not been told about, so we spent the day talking about things, he told me all about Argos, his childhood and the culture and traditions he had been raised in, and was thrilled when I told him that my family had originated from Greece. I told him the myth of Io and Zeus, how the God had pursued her, turned her into a heifer and hid her from Hera's wrath, but then Hera chased her all the way from Greece to Egypt, we were descended from Io, beloved by the great God Zeus. That day he left called me Nestra and I left calling the King, Pelasgus.

"Well… child, I think that your self-imposed imprisonment here should be at an end, it is the anniversary of my reign here in Argos and I have ordered a festival for the end of this week, dancing, enough alcohol to fill thousands of thirsty men and women, food, music. Come child… I have a wish to see you there; do not disobey me in this please. Whatever happened in Egypt, I forgive you of it, you are intelligent and whatever you did could not have been serious."

"Have you consulted my father about this, he would not be pleased to see me there." Since my escape and punishment, my father had privately banned me from any social outings, I did not mind, I had not desire to go to any of them.

"Despite what you father believes, he is not King of Argos yet, I am and what I say in Argos is law." There were also times that despite all of his weaknesses, King Pelasgus surprised you, the glint in his eyes told me that he was brighter than he looked, but that was something I had never taken for granted, people always surprised you, so I had learned not to underestimate them.

I smiled at him, "It would be good if you reminded him of that now and then Your Majesty."

"I try, so be there, only tonight if you want but you must come."

I stepped out of the glare of the sun for a moment, into shade, and looked at him properly, my eye not blinded; it saw what had been hidden to me previously. An aura of danger surrounded the King, and I would not have been very worried for royalty are always in danger, if I had not sensed Death calling for this man. Worried now, for this King had no wife and no heir, not unusual, but he had no immediate family either, instant images of Argos in civil war like my own homeland flooded me.

"Highness, Sire, you do feel… alright do you not? Is your health still fine?" Hoping he would catch the meaning of my question I glared at him in a way that made him jump, remember that he was a rather timid man and I doubt that anyone had ever looked at him in that way before.

"Yes Nestra, very fine my dear, why? Do you worry that your father or one of the people wanting to be your father might try to dispose of me? Worry not child… such things are not for a woman to think of."

I nodded, gritting my teeth and staring at the floor, so I was too girlish to warn the King, well, I had tried; if he listened not then it was no longer my problem. He walked off as I contemplated the stupidity of men, before leaving he gave Greer and me a strange look; especially Greer, evidently he too was contemplating the strangeness of women, how different we are! As soon as his back vanished she burst in a bout of hysterical laughter that I am certain he must have been able to hear, I turned around to glare at her.

"No one there to see us, what was it that you told me, 'worry not, I will tell you if any one comes? He walked right up to us and what he must have thought of you, I do not know! Did you see the look he gave us!"

"Nestra you worry too much, I suspect that he has women that walk around with nothing on in his rooms and does not really care. He will forget that he ever had a conversation with you, you forget that he is very old."

"But you said that you would tell me if you saw anyone, why did you not tell me?"

She grinned in a very feline way at me, "I forgot?" She offered with a wink. "What will you be like when your betrothed gets well and wants to marry you again? Will you be like this with him? Or are there different rules for how husband and wife act?"

She asked questions like these on purpose, I swear she did, "When Lynceus gets well the last thing I am going to do is parade about in front of him wearing no clothes."

"Why not?"

"Because… I just would not, it would not be the right thing to do."

"But why not? you have not explained anything at all to me, you are supposed to help me become more human and not answering my questions is not helping me. That does not make any sense at all Hypermnestra, are you avoiding my questions, you do know that is something makes no sense, it must be nonsense, do you not?"

I sighed, rolled my eyes and shook my head and gave up trying to teach Greer about things like this. It was pointless, she stubbornly refused to understand.

"How about Greer, when we see Eros again, you remember that question and ask it him, I am sure he will answer it for you."

She smiled at the mention of Eros and her eyes gleamed, her and Eros had a very strange relationship, if you ignored the times he had been bitten or scratched with her claws, and you saw her curled up on his knee as if she was still a cat, you would think that they were more than just friends. That is if you missed the times they had the most ear-splitting arguments about things that only magical creatures could argue about, such as which was the best animal, dog or a cat, all I can tell you about that was that Greer ended up in a tree for the whole night while I searched for her and Artemis cleaned up Eros as he was a little worse for wear, ask them who won and Eros will say it was him as Greer stayed in the tree, and Greer will say it was her, for Eros lost quite a bit of blood that day.

All I can say about Greer and Artemis is that they do not get on in the slightest bit; they hate each other and argue as if both of them were cats. For saying that Artemis created Greer, well… she really does not like her creations a lot. I think Artemis did not like me having another guardian other than her, and I made a point of distracting Greer with Celcy whenever Artemis came to see me.

"Come, we better get in before Celcy calls the guards down on us, and I think that if they see you floating about in the pool like you were just now, I doubt that they would turn around and ignore you while you put on some clothes like Pelasgus did."

We walked back, the little grey cat she had been looked back, mournfully at the fish; I laughed and grinned at her,

"Do not worry; I will get you a nice big fish that smells something dreadful for your supper."

"Promise." She asked, the big eyes gleaming and sending me a sad look,

"Promise." Even though the mere hint of fish made Celcy feel sick, it would keep Greer happy, against my wishes I had become attached to Greer. I tried to tell myself that it would only mean that it would hurt me more when she died, but I could not help it, she was one of my only friends, what could I do?

I walked out of a crowd, needing space and fresh air, it was still stifling, but a small breeze was trying to blow through the people as they celebrated their King's twenty years ruling over them.

I tripped over the ridiculously long hem on my long robe; it was white, being the coolest colour I could wear at the moment and was embroidered by a professional with little blue and yellow flowers shaped like stars. My hair was shoulder length and bobbed up and down as I walked; the tight ringlets tied back into two bunches with blue ribbons.

My sisters staggered about, intoxicated from the alcohol or weighed down by the men they had leaning on them for support. Gorgophone, who I had avoided as much as possible, which had not been hard as I was not allowed to social events, spotted me and headed straight towards me, no doubt unable to resist taunting me or pocking fun at me. Her hips swaying in way that she no doubt had practised and perfected, her straight blond hair coming past her shoulders in a waterfall of gold, I did envy Gorgophone her hair, it was manageable and did what she wanted it to. My sisters all looked beautiful, like Goddesses, if they looked anything like Io had done, it was simple to see why she was coveted by Zeus.

"Well… look who it is? You know I had so hoped that you had died, I mean those slaves died in their thousands and you were always with them, why did you survive the disease? You should have died from the poisoning anyway."

"What would you know about poison? In fact, what do you know about anything?"

She did not like that insult one bit and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"More than you do dear sister, why I helped plan it, and you know, it was only supposed to be Lynceus and his father who were given that amount of poison, you were only supposed to be unconscious. But let me just say that myself and Danaus' servant made a deal, she would give the same amount of poison to you as she gave to Lynceus and Aegyptus, you would die, I would take your place as eldest child and she would gain more gold in her pockets than she had ever imagined in her wildest dreams. But she failed, what a pity."

The last words were spat at me, she was too close for comfort now, pushing her face into mine, so I pushed her backwards, away from me and out of my personal space.

"First of all, never say Aegyptus' name in my company, he was a good man and you saying his name degrades him. Second, I am not your dear sister, we share nothing except that man's blood. Third, if you ever do anything like that to me again, I will kill you."

"Not…" She said, pausing to look at me with a false smile, "If I kill you first."

I hit her, slapped her right across her check hard enough to leave a mark, so hard that I think she may possibly be left with a bruise tomorrow, just possibly.

As my hand, my flesh touched hers, I went into a trance, I could hear what I was saying, but I could do nothing, I could not move, or anything. My legs gave in and fell to the floor, ironically on my knees in front of her.

Over and over again I chanted,

"Death comes now to you

And all the other forty-eight.

Share the blood and the fate.

Stand afraid,

In front of Hell's gates.

Tricked and cursed

Forever you will wait.

No rest or respite,

For all eternity you must pay the price."

When my voice grew hoarse and eyes fluttered open, the chant still rolling about in my mind and teasing my tongue. I looked up to find her still there, staring at me in horror.

"For all eternity you must pay the price." The words escaped from my mouth in a soft whisper before I could close it. With a terrified scream she fled, leaving me there.

What price did my sisters have to pay? What had they done that they must make amends for? It was connected to my visions of me in eternal hell, I knew that whatever they did some time in the not too distant future, they would do something horrendous, something horrible, but the question I asked myself was, would I do it too? With this thing that they would do, would come the curse, they would be tricked, forever to fill up jugs with holes in, never able to complete their task. From their eternal punishment, would the civil war I had seen so many years ago in my visions, the one where there was not a ruler because we were all dead stem from the terrible thing that my sisters and I might do? One hundred people dead, was that the thing? My head hurt as I was forced to relive all of my visions one by one sifting through them, trying to find out any clue, any hint of why we would be cursed.

Two paths Aphrodite had said, was one of them to do the same as my sisters and end up in death, my back aching, moving simultaneously with my sisters as though we had but one body, and my own body screaming out for a rest, for absolution; absolution from what? What will I do that is so terrible? Why would redemption never come to me if I chose that path?

The other path of normalcy; where I had a chance of a life, of a family with Lynceus. A life that I was just realising that I wanted, more than anything in the world. I wanted to watch my son grow up and become a King, to watch my daughters as they grew into women, I wanted a family and to make sure that my children were never treated like I was. I wanted to be a mother, a wife, some one that was loved. These thoughts and feelings that I had never felt before all flooded out in one giant rush, with no warning or anything, I did not know how to deal with this, I really did not.

I stayed there in that place thinking for a long time, while all about me people celebrated, drank, laughed and lived their normal, ordinary lives. I finally got home when Greer found me, following a trail only she knew that linked her to me, bringing with her Celecy. I was lying on the ground, maybe I was sleeping, but I never felt Celcy lift me up into her arms and carry me home, I never heard them as they called my name, nor did I feel the water as they tipped me into a cold bath, hoping to bring down the fever that burned my skin.

I knew nothing until I woke up, the day after, lying in bed. Even then I could not remember anything of what had happened to me that night after Gorgophone had left me, all I could recall were eight words, flying about my mind, fighting me, trying to be spoken.

_For all eternity you must pay the price._

4, 031 words! The muse is still going strong!

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 3000 words a go.


	26. Prothesis, Ekphora, and the Interment

A/N: Go to my profile and the on to the link to go to fictionpress, read the story I've got there please, its called 'the Sublime and the Courage of a lion's Heart', and review, pretty pretty please, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE GOOD AND IF IT IS NOT GOOD THEN TELL ME!

Also go and read my best friend's stories, 1madcat, especially 'if you are what you are not.'

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

Death visited me again at night, it came whilst all other mortals slept unawares that it was amongst them, and walked silently there… the opposite to life. In dreams Death trod again, just as it had once done, heralding my death, my step-mother's death, now it came once more.

I curled up tightly into a ball, shielding myself from things that were not physically in this world. I dreamed…

… _As I wandered down the stairs, my stomach wobbling as I descended down the steps, I never used to be over weight, I used to be handsome. Girls had vied for my attention and my favour, I could have had any woman that I had wanted, but like my hair, things soon vanished as shoulders were weighed down with burdens such as age._

_I had never married, never found a girl clever enough but still obedient, beautiful enough but not lacking wits. Never found some one right for me, and not wanting to be tied down, there was always next year, well… not anymore, I was aging and fast. Time was being very harsh on me._

_Wait, what am I thinking? I am not a man, and since when have I ever been attracted to girls? Since when have I been a man? I am Hypermnestra, not a man, whose body was I in? Who was I?_

_The man's hands brushed the top of his head and grimaced, thin hair sparsely covered the top of his round head. I looked at those hands, many rings on them, with sparkling precious gems, some very expensive, some not so, only for show. I stared at one ring; one of those rings had the crest of the land of Argos on it. _

_I was the King, the King of Argos, my King; the very man who I had tried so hard to warn about ominous danger coming his way. Gods, I prayed, please do not let this be a vision of his death; please let it be a marriage in the future, or a birth f one of his children, anything but his death. Please…_

_He walked with me trapped in his weak, pathetic, vulnerable body; an instant and painfully easy target to any one who wanted to kill him. I wandered down a hall-way humming a tune that was not suitable for a King of Argos to be humming, walking towards my rooms, or rather the rooms for Pelasgus. Gods, I prayed again, please, I begged, just this once not another death. But the Gods for once it seemed had abandoned me._

_We opened the door and I stood there looking into my rooms, sorry, slip of the tongue, his rooms, they were large and sumptuously decorated in a gaudy and showy style, much like the King's rings, most were expensive but quite a lot was simply just for show. The room had golden hangings, silken sheets everywhere, and polished silver as mirrors everywhere. I scowled inwardly, such a waste of money when people just outside the Palace walls people starved. The room was bare really, my room had flowers in and plants that I desperately tried and failed to nurture and grow. Thins I had make like simple posters with words on it such as Hades' crest. Things that told people that I lived there, part of me was in that room. The room that I stood in front of was bare and told me a great deal about the man who had spent his whole life here. His life was really as much a pretence as the false jewels on his rings, as empty as this room. He knew it as well, judging from the glum acceptance and sad reflection coursing through him. _

_Pelasgus stood at the doorstep, looking in at the room, wondering whether to go in or not. Flip a coin, heads or tails, do I or do I not? Chance made the decision for him and the God's playing us like pawns made their move. In the move that would end and change his life, he stepped inside. Humming some ridiculous ditty or rhyme; more common in a working-man's public bar with drunken sailors and warriors heading the chorus, than in the King's Palace. Foolish man, never meant to be a King, could he not sense the danger saturating the air about us, the violent feeling that hurdled through my mind and overruled any other thought._

_Foolish man, why did he not run? Why did he enter, smiling that idiotic grin, singing that ridiculous song._

_In that moment when I took one step out of the doorway into the bedroom, the hours froze into days, the minutes to hours and the seconds into minutes. My poor King, so kind, so weak, so very foolish, never saw the man who thrust a sword into his chest, never had a chance to identify his attacker. As I collapsed onto the floor, to my knees, blissfully and thankfully not aware of pain, just a numbness in my chest and the dull resignation of the man whose body my mind inhabited, he knew he was to die here, alone, just like his empty life. I felt for this man, this poor man, dying alone, on his own. His eyes closed, as the man who had killed grabbed his hand and pulled off his royal signet, the ring that made his the King of Argos. He opened his eyes too late to see the back of his killer, dressed in the black garb of my father's servants. All the hatred and loathing in this world could not possibly amount to the feelings that I felt towards Danaus in that moment. Why had Pelasgus not heeded my warnings, why?_

_As I sank onto my side to the floor, the King thought a while… of me. He worried for me, I was at that point shocked to realise that this very day he had been on the brink of asking me to marry him. God's! Men! That is all that I will say!_

_I lay there, his blood making a surprisingly small pool of red on the pure white marble floor. This man felt only a deep well of sadness, no pain or anger, only despair. Until, in the distance we heard footsteps, quickly pounding the floor quicker, louder, and louder. Hope flared for an instant inside him… he was not to die in this room on his own, some one was coming. A crash made him jump and then wince as pain spread through him, but he was simply peaceful lying there. For you see, this man was truly never meant to be a King, he was the third son, meant to be a scholar, a priest, a soft man of learning and wisdom. But chance killed his dream of that life with the sudden deaths of his brother, one after the other, dropping in battle while he, but a boy, stayed at home. He had been an unexpected and unwanted middle-life curse to his mother and as for his father; he had been too caught up in his Kingly son and warrior son to have room inside of him to love another son who was soft and slight. _

_After the crash and the ban the was a pause and… then as the old man's eyes began to fail, all he saw were big, bright, iridescent green eyes glowing in the darkness of his room, with the windows covered and the door partially closed._

_My eyes, they were my eyes! Why were my eyes in front of me? Why did the man feel some what… safe because I was there with him? I was the daughter of the man who had killed him and he felt more secure with me next to him because I was to watch him die! Men! Strange things, truly strange!_

It was on that thought that I blinked, I blinked and not Pelasgus; blinked myself back into my world. Back onto the hard wooden floor in my room, where my back was sore and my sheets were thrown and tossed about so. I had fallen out the bed again, it was still dark and very early morning, but my visions were not polite and they did not take account of the time.

As soon as I realised where I was and that I was no longer King Pelasgus I leapt up, quickly straightening my clothes, smoothing my skirt and pulling down my shirt to try and get rid of wrinkles. They were still there. Realising that I was wasting time, I set off, running through my rooms, the running around the pools of water that rippled dangerously due to the wind. From the pools to the main building were my father, the King, and the eldest of my half-sisters lived. The younger, less important ones lived further back, in a deserted place like me. I raced through the doors, down the stairs, up the stairs, along the mazes of hall-ways, trying to find my way through the labyrinth that was my King's Palace, trying to find his rooms. Maybe if I ran fast enough I could stop him from flipping that coin, from taking that step into his room.

For, with no heirs and no family, the line of succession for the throne would pass from Pelasgus to my father, the highest ranking man in the country of Argos. The man loved and adored by the Argive folk. My father would be King even though he had ordered Pelasgus' death because the people of Argos loved him, my evil father, because of his generosity and the way he doled out his fair justice. Gods! The people were so easy to fool, the generosity with which he gave away money was a pretence, the money was a pittance to us, and he only gave out 'fair justice' to those souls who could be bribed, blackmailed, or used as spies or exploited. There were reasons why Danaus did anything, and reasons like 'I did it out of the kindness of my heart' fit my father exactly like sobriety and seriousness fit Eros, it was an ill match.

I ran bare-footed down the corridor that I knew would lead straight to Pelasgus' main room, people were gathering outside, all of them my blood, my half-sisters. As I ran, a dainty foot and slim ankle shot out from beneath a long skirt and me in my ungainliness and ungraceful ness fell as planned over it. Gorgophone nudged me, not wanting to touch me too much in case she caught whatever it was that I suffered from, the illness of the mind that made me different to the rest of the forty-nine Danaide girls. She kicked me over into the open door where my head lay right next to Pelasgus' open, frightened eyes. So… my sisters were here to make sure that no one came here and happened upon the King as he lay dying. On my hands and knees I crawled over to him, I had been too late, too late to save him, like so many others. I left red, sticky, wet handprints on the white floor, red and soaked with his blood.

"Pelasgus, what have you got yourself into this time? I tried to warn you, why did you not listen to me?"

"I should have… listened, you were… wiser than I was, sorry… Hypermnestra."

"You foolish man, now look at you, look what you have gone and done to yourself."

He smiled at my audacity, even dying he was still my King, no on had ever talked to him in that way, and the saddest thing was, that no one would talk to him ever again.

"You know… I was thinking of… taking a wife soon… I am getting older… and you know that the… God's never gave me a… child… I thought about… asking you…"

He rasped the words at me, I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but, I just could not. Instead I paused, not wanting to say what I would have usually said to this man, in this situation.

"You old scoundrel you, why Pelasgus, I am but half your age."

He smiled wistfully, probably thinking of what his life would have been like with me for soon after his smile vanished.

"You were… a Princess… you should…. marry a King… make an… interesting wife… I am not… that old."

"I would have made your life a misery Pelasgus, I love some one else, that was why we left Egypt, that was the scandal." I whispered now, his voice faltering and mine not wanting to be overheard.

"If he… loves you… then he is smart… if you… love him back… than it is… never scandal."

"You soft King, I never knew you were one for romance Pelasgus, what else have you been hiding from me?

He smiled again, quietly to himself, then his eyes closed and his body grew limp, his head fell back, exposing that sword, still stuck inside him, impaling him.

Another death; another drop of blood staining my father's hands. I opened one of Pelasgus' hands and gave it a quick squeeze, hoping that wherever he was now was a better place than this one. My hand felt a crumpled piece of parchment. When he had smiled, he had straightened out his hand towards me. I had thought that he had just wanted comfort before passing on, but had he been trying to give me something instead?

Inside his hand was a small note to me, not flattering my beauty or anything as dim as that in hopes that I would swoon and declare eternal love for him, he had been more intelligent than that, just simply saying how he admired me, and wished for me to consider his hand in marriage.

Dear man, so foolish, _Pelasgus it would never have worked my King._ There I sat quietly for more than just a few moments, thinking of what could have been and what was to come.

Celcy roused me from my stupor, bursting through the door, gasping hard for breath, the cat tucked underneath her arm, giving Celcy a gaze that said she would pay for this latest indignity.

"Great Lord Zeus and all the Gods on Mount Olympus, so it is true then, he is dead. But not quite how Danaus is telling the story, or rather, not quite similar to what King Danaus is saying about our late King's sudden demise from an attack of the heart."

"But Pelasgus has not been dead but hours, and why have you just burst in here, how could Danaus have announced this so soon?"

"Greer said that you were upset so I decided to see why. She was rather worried about you, you slept on the floor."

I sat up and Greer jumped down to the floor and softly padded over to me, sitting close to me, resting her head and front paws on my arms. I stroked her and she wandered over to Pelasgus, meowing sadly at him, nudging at his head with her tiny nose, trying to wake him up.

I got up quickly, unable to keep watching Greer as she attempted to bring back Pelasgus from the dead.

"Come Nestra, your father commanded everyone to him; you will be punished if you do not go to him. Come."

Putting her arm around my shoulder to support me, Celcy reached down and picked up Greer who yelped in disgrace. I took her off Celcy and carried her in my arms, her light weight a comfort, her soft fur making my cold body warmer, purring softly as I stroked her.

As we approached the main hall, I saw Danaus' daughters, all lined up going from Gorgophone, the eldest, to Hyperippe, the youngest, I pushed my way forward as Celcy drew back and grabbed hold of Greer, some places even they could not force their way into. I paused deliberately behind Gorgophone, before pushing past her too, asserting my position as eldest Danaide and undermining her authority at the same time. We walked in; the others forced to walk quickly to catch up with my long-legged stride.

The hall was filled with pathetic nobles, come to grovel at Danaus' feet, to beg to keep their positions or to try and gain more power, their King had just died and they were acting like that to some one who was no even of their race. Unbelievable, it really was. Then there was the man I am ashamed to call father, to have any link or connection with, Danaus. Sitting on the King's throne, wearing the King's ring; taken from him before I arrived. I was truly and totally disgusted, I really was. Unbelievable! Danaus had just sunk down to a new low.

There was a simple and selfish reason why we, his daughters, were there. When Danaus pulled beck the velvet curtains on his large balcony to look down at the screaming frenzied masses below us, he wanted us to look as if we supported him, to show everyone the royal family, united fully behind him, united but still full of cracks and rot. We dutifully lined up; one look at the guard told me what would happen if I refused.

My half-sisters, knowing what had happened to make us Princesses once again, acted as if we were still in Egypt and a man had not just been killed while they watched. They waved and smiled sweetly, some throwing things into the crowd, others not. Golden haired angels all of them; from the younger ones, nine years old with a glint in their eyes and a satisfied tilt to their lips, they were much older than their simple and innocent nine years, to the older ones ranging from ten to twenty-three years, much more adept at hiding what they felt. The crowd must have thought them such exotic beauties, so fair; pale skinned, delicate and small, like a perfect apple, but once you bite into it, inside it is all rotten and bad. They were rotten inside.

I neither smiled nor waved. I stood there in a corner, in the shadows, watching as evil took over my family, if it ever had been my family. The crowd cheered, whistled and screamed their approval, there was talk of partied, of festivals and of celebrations all in honour of their new King, not in remembrance of the old.

I turned tortured eyes and a ravaged face to the sky and asked a simple question, 'why?' I turned and ran away, off the balcony, away from them and away from every one. I wanted so badly to scream, 'what about Pelasgus? What of your King.' They would remember him if I had anything to do with it. They would remember.

I raced through the main building once more, searching for the King. I may not have been able to perform the burial rites for Aegyptus, but I was most certainly going to do them for Pelasgus and what was more, I was going to lead them. When I arrived at his main room I found servant in there already, his servants, although they were not his anymore, but Danaus'. Laid out on his bed, on top of silken sheets, the sword removed from his chest was Pelasgus. As I came through the door, the servants stood there still, all of them women, as primarily only women conducted the burial rituals. They lined up in front of me, all seven of them at my disposal.

"I am Hypermnestra, daughter of Danaus, now King of Argos, previously of Egypt. I will be conducting this burial ritual, but I will appreciate any help that you may choose to give me."

Quietly, the white clothed women bowed in front of me, and a young girl stepped forward, very young in comparison to the others, very beautiful though just like her fellow servants, she spoke softly to me,

"We were his favourites, his concubines and mistresses, he preferred us best of all and we will assist you in any way possible. We will serve him and do our duty towards him in death just as we did in life. I am Chara, and I will obey your command."

I smiled, and we started the burial process. First came the Prothesis, which was the laying out of the body, we washed his body and anointed it with sweet-smelling and expensive oil, arranged what little hair he had left, pulled off the bloodstained and torn clothes, and dressed him in clothes that were beautiful enough for a God to wear, let alone a lowly King. Lying there on the high bed, he looked only sleeping. It was at this time that the relatives and friends should have come to mourn and pay their respects. But he had no relatives, and people would not come to pay respects and mourn for him as this would be considered and insult to Danaus, that was why I was horrified to find that he had announced himself King so soon, so it was usually tasteful and decent to wait until after Ekphora.

Pelasgus stayed there on the bed for three days, we stayed there in his room, some of the women quietly crying for a man who had treated them well, others going about, gathering things that would be placed in the grave with him, his favourite clothes or things. After three days no one had come to see him and enough was enough, in a loud procession that I had not told my father about, myself and the other male and female servants of Pelasgus marched through the festivity, carrying him in his tomb that had been prepared for the King before his birth. People froze and stopped their merry-making, remembering that with the coming of the new King was the passing of the old. The women who had helped me give dignity back to my King began to cry in a loud and sorrowful way, lamenting their loss; they were joined by the other people, as our procession grew in number and size and volume. With that Pelasgus was sent out of his palace as the customs dictated at dawn, with his people surrounding him. Thus ended the Ekphora.

Now it was the interment of his remains for the body was to be burned, he was laid on an elaborate pyre, used for many hundreds of years for many Kings, I walked up to him and on top of his eyes I placed two golden coins, with his likeness on them. Money that Charon, the ferryman who carried the souls of the Dead over the river Styx and into Hades, would be paid in return for his services. The male servants came forward with lighted bundles of twigs and threw them onto his body, it went up in flames quickly and soon there was nothing left but ash, smoke and fire.

The tens of thousands of people who had joined our procession fell to their knees in front of their King as he burned. Together we spoke out loud the prayer all of us had been taught since childhood, a prayer that asked the Lord Hades and Lady Persephone to look after and keep safe the man we had sent to the other side of the river; our King.

Days passed and eventually the fire died and we could gather up Pelasgus' remains into a beautiful delicate urn the girl, Chara had found in his room. Meant for his eldest brother, it was now his for his brothers bodies had been burnt on the field of battle and their ashes had mixed in with the ashes of the men they had been fighting both against and with. The urn would now be placed inside a stone grave in the ground, where his parents, and grand-parents and great grand-parent were laid to rest. A stone likeness of him that was more flattering than truthful would be erected close to the tomb in time. All in all it was short end for a King and a sad one at that.

My father was furious, he had been wanting to give Pelasgus some small and hardly suitable burial rites that would escape the notice of the public, with my help, and I had made it anything but that! Although he was angry he could do nothing for what had I done but bury my King? He was also rather annoyed when I asked for the female servants of Pelasgus to serve me now, I had grown fond of the women and I did not want to think about how Chara would be treated under Danaus' command, I knew that they would not be cared for in such a good way, fortunately he agreed simply to keep me silent about how Pelasgus died. Like my father I am quite efficient at black-mail, and it worked very well.

I so wish that I had been able to do such funeral rites for Aegyptus, for I often worry whether some one gave him his coins, whether he was looked after as well as he would have been had I cared for his body. Whether he had been buried or cremated, and if he had been buried whether those boys of his had remembered to place the coin on his mouth and not his eyes. I worried so about him, and missed him much, as I did what I could for Pelasgus. Even more than Aegyptus I missed Lynceus. I did not realise that soon we would be together, rather sooner than you might have thought.

4, 285 words, ummmm… very sad but are you all happy, Lynceus is coming back to town!

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 3000 words a go.


	27. Changing Things!

A/N: Go and read my best friend's stories, 1madcat, especially 'if you are what you are not.'

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

**Some one reviewed and said that at some points the story plot was a little confusing, is it some times? If so, if you could tell me when it is confusing and how I can make it less so. Also, I have been making all my chapters longer and better, so if you would like me to replace the chapters here on fanfic with the better ones, I will do that too. **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

This day was nothing special or out of the ordinary, it was nothing but my birthday, the very day on which five and twenty years ago I was born, the very day my mother died, twelve years to the day that I first met and recognised Lynceus, and seven years to the day that Lynceus asked me to marry him, the very year that Eros would stop aging outwardly, because none but the God himself knew what was happening inside. My birthday and no one around to remember and celebrate it with me, other than those incorrigible Gods, my cat Greer, and my guardian and almost nurse, Celcy. Not quite enough to have a really raucous party, but during the day I am sure that I would be given a secret one, just to let me know that I was not forgotten, not quite yet.

The years, so quickly peeling away from me, how could I be twenty-five years old? It was almost amazing not quite. I had an awful feeling this day, an awful feeling that soon… something would happen. Something bad and something good, for remember it is often said that every cloud that blocks out the sun's rays has a silver lining that light can be reflected off, so all is not despair, there are good times within the bad. (THANK-YOU SAKK) Every bad thing must have a good thing to balance it out, just like every force in this mortal world of ours has an equal but totally opposite twin, identical but so different. Like love and hate, war and peace, light and dark and warm and cold.

Despite being separated a distance of more than two countries, and a great deal more than simple land, of prejudice, of blood feuds, of family rivalry and those many differences that mark me and Lynceus completely doomed from the start, he still managed to remember my birthday, and to prove my theory on bad and good things. I was lying by the pools once again, but on my own, Greer had vanished as had Celcy, and I, in my secretive nature, believed them to be planning said party for me, very arrogant and presuming I know, forgive me, but what else could make them hush each other when I came near and abruptly stop talking?

The weather was dreadfully hot, yet not as hot as it had been, pointing hopefully for a year where it would be cool and mild thankfully. I was not at all contemplating diving into the water, I am afraid that after the incident with Greer and Pelasgus, me swimming in nothing but my shift will definitely not be happening any time in the distant future again. The idea of my father some how coming up to me and finding me like that and Greer in nothing, is not really the best and visually pleasing thing to come into my mind.

As I looked into the water, feeling rather alone this day, the water shimmered upwards right in front of my eyes into a waterfall of shining colours and light, a pillar of water going from the lipid stillness of a liquid into a solid-looking doorway. Where the doorway led into at that moment I knew not, but I wanted to find out, immediately. Curiosity - not one of the virtues, but always one of mine, prevailed against common sense and even prudence and I walked through it as I would a normal doorway. Unfortunately as I was to find out, it was still water, however solid looking, and it was still very very very wet. My hair, already curly and crazed when dry became even more so. My clothes, sopping wet, and unless a certain God came out and dried them for me, I was going to rip out his heart and feed it to Greer. This doorway was all Eros' idea, I knew it.

"Eros!" I screamed, my voice echoed in the empty room that I was in, "You planned this, now come out and make me dry. Eros, I am going to feed your heart to the cat, amongst other things, if you do not come out, Eros!"

Greer appeared, twenty-nine years old now, even older than I was, it was amazing how much she had changed in a mere three years, all of her girlish, youthful beauty had grown into a gorgeous woman, still small, still grey-haired and fair skinned, but a woman nevertheless.

"The cat, as you so kindly called me, would never eat something as small, as pitiful, and as rotten as what his head would be like…" She visibly shuddered, "Ugh… it would taste most assuredly foul."

She shrieked as Eros picked her up and flung her in the air. As always she landed on her front, on her feet, just like a cat.

"My gracious and kind Lady Greer, I am most saddened to tell you that my heart would taste like nothing for the simple fact that I do not have a heart."

In revenge for the throwing about Greer flicked out a long sharp nail, and smiled in a very feline way at him.

"What to see if there is something inside that hollow cave in her chest?"

For once not arguing or siding against her, Artemis walked up next to Greer with an evil grin learnt from the master of evilness himself, Eros. Clapping her hands together with a soft mutter of magical words, around her hands glowed bright orbs of lights, lit up with all the power inside of my Goddess of the Moon.

"Shall we find out?" They cackled together like allies instead of what they were usually, enemies.

Advancing towards Eros he stared in disbelief at them and ran for his life. This was not the mortal world, it was a world made my immortals, part of their domain, so while in reality murder of a God was totally impossible, here in this world, it was merely improbable. He knew that faced by two magical creatures he did not stand a chance unless he made them fall in love with him or so much in love with each other that they did not kill him, but remember readers, that arrows cannot be commanded back to Eros once he has let them loose on the world.

"Girls, come on… ladies… please, you just cannot cut open my chest…. Artemis, I will tell Zeus, Greer, I will tell… Nestra, or your father, or some-one."

"How will you be able to tell some one if we cut you up into many tiny little pieces and hide them?" I spoke up now, joining my protectors. I tell you, my readers, that the expression on Eros' face was enough to cause even Hera to laugh until she cried and was ill. I do so wish that I could draw like Lynceus for them I would have made you the very image of his face. Thinking of him made me wish he was here with me and laughing with me, instead of being wherever he was.

"Sister…" Eros gasped, his mouth wide open as if he had swallowed his tongue, "Nestra… cut me up… tiny pieces… Gods!" Evidently from the incoherent words escaping his mouth, he was shocked.

"Eros, you little worm." Celcy joined in now, "Not only do I hate to remind you of the small fact that you are actually a God, can I remind you that I owe you some revenge for what you did to me years ago. I can be patient when I wish to be so."

Eros gulped, "Old woman, ummm… did I not apologise to you for that?"

"You have not apologised to any of us for what you have done to us over the years." The four of us spoke together, moving menacingly towards him. Greer licking her long nails; Artemis and her hands glowing midnight blue; me, cracking my knuckles, making a noise that sent shivers down my spine; and Celcy, running her thumb over the sharp edge of her knife blade. Readers! I do so wish that you could have been there with me, honestly, if you laugh reading this, it is not one-tenth of how we laughed afterwards!

"Eros…" Greer said, that evil glint in her amber eyes making them shine like the sun, her beautiful face lit up. "Run…"

He needed no second command, but, after speeding away but then turning around to see how we had gained on him, he slumped down to the floor in what looked like a faint.

"Eros… " Artemis called to him, "Lying there like that will not stop us from ripping you apart."

"Eros… " I said with a laugh, "You did this to me, so many times when we were young, I will not fall for it like I did once."

"Girls…" Celcy said, "Let's get him!"

We ran, but when we came near to him, with Celcy in her long baggy skirts, staring over, wondering which arm to dissect first, he leapt up and ran underneath said skirts. With a laugh he ran away, having the advantage of surprise, with Celcy's scream of mortification we followed after him.

"Give up now, you rodent, we will get you in the end."

The he stopped, suddenly, still laughing manically at us.

"You kill me or bisect me or eat any of my vital organs and I will destroy something very precious to Lynceus."

I scowled. In his hands was a large, black, book, very crudely bound and covered, but still a book nevertheless.

"Have you stolen his diary? If you have, let me read it before you destroy it, please, if you do I promise I will not eat your heart or let the others eat your inside, promise."

"So… Nestra, if I let you look at Lynceus' secret thoughts and feelings, probably all about you, the only thing that you will do for me is make sure that after you and my other so-called-friends have chopped me up viscously into little pieces you will not eat me. Forget it; this book is going up in flames."

One of his fingers, flaming with yellow fire, pointing at the books threatened us. But then, Artemis spoke up.

"Wait just one second, you are lying, you always grin like that when you lie, that's how we know you are lying because you never stop grinning."

"What could he be lying about, the fact that he will not set the book on fire, or the fact that this book is not Lynceus'?"

"The book is Lynceus' and he is fully prepared to burn it if he wants to. But the thing that he is lying about is that fact that this is not Lynceus' diary, what is it Eros, what has he given you? What is it?"

He sighed, "Promise you will not eat me or kill me or cut me up into little pieces, and I will tell you what it is."

"Is it something for me?" I asked. Was it a present that Lynceus had given Eros to give to me?

"We promise." Dully me, Celcy and Artemis promised, our fun taken away from us.

"But the cat has not promised, she is twice as dangerous as you Nestra, she will kill me on her own if you gave her the chance."

"Fine…" Greer growled at Eros, "I promise… for now."

With that Eros grinned and threw the book at me. I missed it and as it fell to the ground, flying through the air, hundreds of pictures floated down from the sky all around me, all of them pictures of me. Many of them ones that I had seen before, in his room after the dance at the noble's house.

I sat on the ground, laughing, so he had not forgotten my birthday after all. I lifted up my arms and tried to catch the pictures falling from the heavens. While I sat there, with Greer looking fascinated with the pictures and Celcy smiling and sighing, so happy simply for the fact he had remembered, Eros and Artemis had yet another fight.

"Eros you fool, look what you have done, those pictures are all over the place, and it will take ages to pick them all up, why could you not have given it to her; all that hard work and it is ruined now because of you."

"I will tell you why I could not just give it to her, because only moments again she was screaming for my blood and wanting to chop me up and kill me and feed my insides to that cat-beast thing over there."

Pointing their fingers to the piles of pictures, Eros and Artemis moved them so that they were back in their original places in the book. I turned to the first page to find instead of a drawing, a letter.

It was his handwriting, a little shaky but still his writing. Snatching the letter out of my hands Eros read it out loud.

"Give it to me, I want to know what he has said about Nestra, give it to me, I have never seen this man, I want to know what he has said." Greer begged, but Eros would give it to no one.

"Fine, sit down and read it to us."

We all sat on the floor, with Eros in the middle as he read to us what my lover had written to me.

_Nestra… it has been twelve years to the very day that you first kissed me, seven years to the day that you told me that you would marry me, and five and twenty years exactly to the day that you were born. How the years have flown by! Many of these pictures you will remember form the room that I had in the noble's house when we danced the dance that we should not have done. I will tell you why I did not leave them behind and took them instead, I did not leave them because for years I had woken up to them, to seeing your face, so I brought them with me so I could still see you on my walls. _

_I will say nothing more except that I hope this tells you that I have not forgotten you, just like you have not forgotten me, and I will see you soon._

_Only yours forever onwards, but you are still only mine in passing moments._

"You know… Eros…" Greer said, preparing to make mischief, "You know that you are the God of Love, why can you not act like that? Lynceus is more romantic than you are."

"Lynceus is in love and has a right to be more romantic than I am. As I told you, I do not have a heart so how can I be in love."

"Do you have a message for him that you want me to give him?" Artemis asked, with a glare at Eros.

"Give me some flowers here and I will make one for him. Can you give me some help Celcy?"

You know how much I love flowers and plants, well… instead of writing a letter that could possibly be found by spies still in Egypt and find its way back to my father; I sent Lynceus simple pressed flowers to give him messages. As Celcy knew so many things, she also knew what flowers meant what and was trying to teach me so that I would know too, why on earth she knew things like that I do not know, and where she had learnt such things, I cannot honestly tell you, only that in times of war when Celcy was fighting, messages in flowers must have been a good way to hide what you wanted to put into a letter. Sadly, to me, a flower was a flower and I forgot what they meant as soon as she told me.

I missed the grin on Celcy's face as she watched the flowers grow in front of her; the smile that would mean that she was planning something horrible, at my expense, and the wink she gave Artemis. She quickly went through the flowers, picking out some and discarding others. Finally she had a small selection of them.

"Now," she said, "We need some way of pressing them."

At that Artemis pointed and where her fingers had been a sort of mangle machine appeared. Placing the flowers on a piece of paper, she ran them through the presser.

"Here we are, all done and pressed."

"Tell me what they mean."

"Okay, by the way Artemis, you have some lovely flowers that I have only seen grew very far from here, the climate is so dreadful in this cursed land and in Egypt that many of these grow not here. The fern will tell him that you accept his gift, the Myosotis will tell him that you send your thanks for it, the Ambrosia means that you remember him, and the Gardenia that you will not forget him."

"What do you mean I return his affections, are you a fool, he will take that as encouragement!" One look at Celcy made me give them quickly to Artemis as she vanished with them.

She reappeared laughing loudly.

"I laid them on his desk, which is where he will find them when he comes back into his room."

She was still laughing so I asked her,

"What is so amusing? Did you find something in his room? Tell me, if it was something that funny please tell me."

"Do you want me to tell you what those flowers really mean, because I can tell you now that what Celcy just told you about them was totally wrong."

"What…" I said dangerously, "Do they mean, what have I just sent him?"

Eros grinned, "Please can I be the one that tells her, please." With out permission he continued. "Well… the fern that Celcy told you meant that you accept his gift does not mean that, it means that you have a secret bond of love. The Myosotis does not mean you are thankful for his gift, it means memories or do not forget. The Ambrosia does not mean that you remember him; it means that you reciprocate his love. The Gardenia means that you share a secret love, not that you will not forget him. All in all, you have a very good cause to blush; I think that when he sees your flowers he will think you have gone crazy."

"Celcy, I am going to kill you."

With those simple words I raced after her, eating up ground easily as she ran away from me.

"What else have you been sending to him from me that is not quite what you said it is?"

I leapt out and grabbed her around the waist, falling on top of her and sitting on her to prevent her from moving.

"Well…" I said, grabbing her head and pulling it backwards. "What else."

"Nothing else, I only tried it today because she told me to."

"Which she; Greer, Artemis, or could it have been Eros? This is something that sounds a lot like what you would plot Eros"

Celcy pointed to Artemis while Eros mumbled about being innocent until proven guilty. I collapsed on the floor, mortified, what was I going to do? What if he thought that I was sane and I meant everything in those flowers? What was I going to do I thought again. Kill something, try to pretend that this ever happened, wear a mask over my face and never see Lynceus again?

"What is it with Gods, why do they insist on putting their annoying little noses into my business, I mean why Artemis, honestly, why?"

She smiled sheepishly at me. "I thought it would be interesting?"

"Eros, if you ever want to do something really annoying and bad to Zeus or any other God or Goddess and blame it on Artemis; then you have my permission to do so, I will not fight you."

"Nestra, you do realise what you have given him permission to do? He could ruin me, I mean he could make me so hated amongst the Gods that they turn me into a mortal."

Greer laughed and said, "Well, if you were a mortal maybe you could learnt to live a little more wildly, because if you were mortal you would have to fit so much into your life, well, let us just say that your life would be so much more interesting if you were a mortal."

"Are you implying that I am boring?"

"Just a little."

This brought on another bout of squabbling from Artemis and Greer. I thought that we had been doing well for them not to be fighting for so long. They were little girls, not magical creatures, it was truly strange.

"Wait a moment." I said to them, grabbing Lynceus' book up from the floor and re-reading the second paragraph, '_and I will see you soon._' That made the two of them stop fighting. "What does Lynceus mean when he says that he will see me soon, is he coming for me, what does he mean, is he expecting me to come to him?"

"I think he might have been talking a little figurately when he said 'I will see you soon,' I mean it would take him two years to get here, and that is not exactly soon is it?"

"Did you see him, Eros when you picked up the book? Did he give it to you in person?"

"Why do you want to know, do you just want me to describe him to you so you can moon over him like you usually do?" Eros winked at me in such an infuriating manner.

"You really are not very bright for a God Eros are you not? Nestra means that if you did not receive it in person from him, then he could be coming to Argos, on his journey at this very moment." Greer looked at him in disgust.

"No… he did not give it to me in person, I only assume it was because last time I saw him, we had a game of dice where I did not exactly… play by the rules, he had threatened to hunt me down and skin me alive because I technically won three hundred gold coins off him, so I assumed that he was avoiding paying me."

"Did you get him drunk and then try to weasel money out of him? Eros how could you! You rotten rat!" Artemis was shocked and hit him, hard.

"How did you know that it was for me if he did not give it to you himself?"

"It had a large piece of paper next to it saying 'for Nestra.'"

"Gods!" Celcy said loudly, "He is coming to Argos to demand your hand in marriage; he is coming to fight and kill your fathers!" She danced around the room alternating between marriage and the death of my father.

"Were his brothers about? Did you see them playing and making noise and creating mess?"

"No… I just thought they were on holiday or something."

"Eros, you are a God, how intelligent are you, not only is Lynceus not there, but his forty-nine loud, messy, obnoxious brothers were missing too, they are coming to, they are coming to marry Nestra's sisters. Honestly Eros!" The look of disgust on Greer's face was nothing in comparison to the look on Artemis' face.

"We are Gods Eros, you are giving Gods a bad name what with your attitude to life – just create as much trouble as possible, and your not very clever nature. I think that you should be called something other than a God, maybe something like…"

"Imbecile?" Greer said helpfully.

"Exactly, from now on Eros shall no longer be a God, he shall be known as an imbecile!"

While Eros, Greer and Aretmis fought about who precisely was an imbecile and other… rather impolite names that they began to call each other, while Celcy danced around, happy that she was to see her nephew again, I just thought, seated in the middle of mayhem, wondering how I could possibly be friends with these people?

So, after all these years I was to finally be married to him, how did I feel about this? One word, it is not scared, more I felt apprehensive. For five and twenty years I had been independent and free, I did what I wanted when I wanted, what happened if I married him and everything changed, what if he changed even worse, what if I changed? What was I to do? Besides all that, what if I actually had children? What would I do then? The future that had seemed so far-fetched and a long time away was rapidly coming closer and closer. How was I to cope with marriage and children? What if I just died of boredom? What if I like being married and having hundreds of screaming, horrible, unruly children that were made I my image, how could I like it?

Thinking of all of this made my head hurt, I had already planned out everything that I would do when I saw Lynceus again, I would hit him, really hard and possibly break his nose for real this time. Then I would tell him in no uncertain terms that I would never, under any circumstances, be following him into Death again, and if he was foolish enough to get himself killed again, well… then he could just get himself out of Death. I was never going into Death for him again; never again… not in a million years would I do it.

4, 303 words, happy happy happy Lynceus is coming back, happy happy happy! (Sorry, going just a little crazy here!)

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 4000 words a go.


	28. Read My Palm but Not My Life!

A/N: Go and read my best friend's stories, 1madcat, especially 'if you are what you are not.'

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

**Some one reviewed and said that at some points the story plot was a little confusing, is it some times? If so, if you could tell me when it is confusing and how I can make it less so. Also, I have been making all my chapters longer and better on word, so if you would like me to replace the chapters here on fanfic with the better ones, I will do that too. **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

My birthday and many days following that day passed by quickly, just the opposite to how time seemed to last forever when I was with Lynceus or when Greer froze time to morph into a human, it was speeding along nicely now, when I had hope. Hope that I would not die here, under my father's roof, alone, cold and embittered with no friends. I was an old spinster, most girls were married at half, if not a third of my age, but then again, most girls did not act like me.

I am not so happy to say that Argos, in the year it had been under Danaus' control had not prospered. My old lands, in a section of Egypt that had not been controlled y Aegyptus or his sons had slowly and slowly digressed from being rich and strong to weak and paupered, like the bitter black drink the pagans brought to these Mediterranean lands, coffee I think the name was, in comparison to weak, watery tea, which I hated. A heathen drink coffee may be, but glorious and fit for the Gods it was. Moving from the real subject, let me just tell you what Eros told me when I rhapsodised over coffee to him, he told me that how I described my thoughts about coffee was what I thought about what goes on in the bedroom between lovers! Let me just say that after telling me that I slapped him, I had been young then and innocent and shocked. Need I repeat the language I screamed at him to tell him how obscene he was, I can only say that as innocent and young as I was, I burnt his ears black!

When I arrived in Argos, while there were admittedly people who were home-less on the streets, begging for food and money, for what country has not got its poor people? Generally though, people had been plump and covered in silk and expensive jewels and clothing, prosperity had bloomed here like an exotic and bright flower, overshadowing the plainer ones that surrounded her. In Egypt, my father, how it pains my mouth to form those two words, spent all his money on promiscuous, scantily-clad and greedy women that snatched away a large chunk out of his money. Food, drink and clothing fit for a real King and not just a pathetic imitation followed second third and fourth in line for what he spent all of his gold on. After spending said money he then began to tax the higher nobles and merchants who had high positions in the society of Egypt. When that money failed to support his rich tastes on a bop budget lifestyle, he taxed everyone. Those who could not pay were imprisoned, but slowly the taxes rose, and Danaus, as clever as he was never ventured too far out of the palace to see the suffering and misery that he had left behind in his wake. He never saw the children on the streets starving, stick-thin, and hunting through other peoples rubbish to survive on other people's left-overs and trash. Their eyes haunted me as I wandered about, for you see I often look around the country that I will one day rule over because one day I will rule over all of the land, not just the best places but the worst too. Can I tell you of the women I had seen too, sometime with the children, starving to feed them, others pregnant, ribs pushing through paper flesh, their bellies unnaturally big compared to their slight bodies, their unborn children destined never to survive.

I saw them all; they all walk my dreams, another side-effect of my father's evilness. There were so many things that could have been done to help and I had figured out some of them, but trying to persuade my father to use them was like trying to tell the sand not to be dry. Things like only taxing those who could actually afford it, people like merchants, or like places where the homeless could get food from, they were simple thing that could help. But no one listens to a girl, a girl who was not even good-looking enough to warrant looking at anyway. As for Argos, well… King Pelasgus had not been the best or the most economical of Kings, so while more then a few people had been paupered then when we had come, my father had trebled that number, trebled the amount of sick, starving, dying people. Argos had most certainly not prospered with his coming.

But enough of private worries and woes, if myself and Lynceus live long enough to kill him, I will make sure the changes that would ensure no more unnecessary taxing and I would personally try to help the homeless. Until then, aside from giving money and food to the poor, there was little I could do to help.

A few weeks later, I was sneaking out of the first gate with a large basket of bread and fruit, I had let it known this time that I was not running away and was only going to market. After relieving the basket of its load, I returned, walking past the main building only to see the most beautiful woman I had ever seen before in my life. In fact I would say that she was so glorious that she could almost have competed easily with an immortal for beauty. So fair she had to be foreign to these lands, her hair was a reddish gold, but she had none of the freckles that usually ear-marked a red-haired mortal, her eyes were an icy shade of blue, an icy shade that was most suspiciously familiar. I knew those eyes, but not the person behind them. She was tiny and not thin, a soft, rounder woman of middle-age. Dressed in royal purple she had to be royalty somewhere because not only would it be too expensive for anyone else to buy but no one else would have the audacity to wear the colour either.

She was beautiful enough to tempt Gods, especially Zeus, beautiful enough to seduce Kings and cloud the minds of men and women depending on where their tastes lay. Befuddle the mind of one man she had, for I knew who this woman was, called the Jewel of her lands, the woman who had, even bloated and heavy with child, charmed marriage out of the King. She was Psyche's mother, but if her mother was here, then was Psyche? My heart filled with life and I so hoped that she was there. But first, what I really wanted to know was why Psyches mother was here. A man walked p to her, older than middle-aged with more silver than brown in his hair. It was a good thing his wife was very small, for the King was not really the tallest person I had seen.

"I came, I gave his my regards, I told him that I hoped he would reign for a long time, now I can concentrate on you and the rooms the new King has given us, specifically how to get you there as fast as possible."

Picking her up and carrying her away her shrieks soon died down as I wondered more than ever where Psyche was. Her parents had come as fellow royals to congratulate my father, so had they brought Psyche along with them? Surely they had, knowing how much she wanted to come and how much I wanted to see her.

"Nestra… Nestra… over here…" Soft whispers brought me out of my reverie and woke me up. Spinning around I searched for where 'over here' was, and could not see it. A sigh of annoyance followed and small white hands covered my eyes.

"Guess who…"

I grinned, "I thought that you said in your letter that you could not come Psyche."

"Technically I cannot still."

I turned around and wrapped my arms around the girl, questions could wait until later, then I pulled back to have a better look at her. It seemed so strange to think that now she was twelve years old, she had grown a little, but not much, she was destined to be as small, as petite as her mother. But not as beautiful, as bright as her, her girlish features, so white and pale except for the blue eyes, were very different to her mother's features. All I could see of her at the moment was her tiny face, because she was wearing dark clothes, covering every single inch of her, a cloak to cover her hair and the sides of her face, trying ineffectively to hide herself.

Lifting her chin up and turning her face from side to side. I was worried now, what had they done to this girl? Why had they covered her up and why was there no sparkle in her eyes any more?

"What are you dressed like and why? How did you get here if you were not allowed, and what have you been doing? What has happened to you?" I threw question after question at her and she smiled at me, remembering that day we had shared.

"Quietly she answered me, "Well… I am dressed like this because covering myself up is the only way I can go outside now." With dignity like a little Queen she added, "I am still considered a freak of nature, what people understand not, they like not, and I am one of those things that they do not understand."

"I like you, but then again I am also classified as something they neither like nor understand me; so do not take my favour as something substantial."

We smiled and I pulled off the cloak that covered her face, she was too lovely to hide behind that thing and even in winter it was too hot to wear it. With that thing off her face and her hair shining white in the sunshine I pushed her away to my rooms. She was about the same size as Greer who had not grown since she had come to me, s I could give her clothes that I kept for Greer when she morphed in a naked siren. Psyche was a young girl and should not be dressed in dark colours since no one had died or been grievously injured.

Once she had changed I looked at her again, she was lovely, her heart-shaped face, so tiny with those vivid blue eyes. Some how her pale hair made her even more lovely, emphasising the kindness in her eyes and the purity of her spirit.

_Ghost child… pure of soul…_

_Needs only a partner to make her whole…_

I suppressed that memory, and buried away. As I was to find out, being kind and gentle were not the only graces belonging to Psyche, mischief, curiosity and good dose of strength and determination were also added to the mix, I recalled that once I had thought her very similar to me, only a better person than I was.

"So tell me, how did you get here?"

Her eyes twinkled once again with the glint that told me she was not as good as she would have some people believe, it was only a façade behind which she could carefully manipulate people.

"As you know, because of you and Lynceus and the fact that your father forbade any relationship between you two, advice that you chose to disobey and rightly so, he would not let me come in case of offending my girlish sensibilities and encouraging my bad streak and possessing me to do the dame as you." She grinned at me and raised an eyebrow as if to say, 'how could I have a bad streak?' "So when my mother packed all of her trunks and my sisters oohhed and aahhed over her clothes and jewellery I got out my own trunk and got in it just before they left. They packed me into the boat where I appeared by magic after it had already left, and so father had no choice but to let me come with them as long as I stayed in their room, did not under any circumstance go out, and I did not associate with you at all. I obeyed everything except the staying in the room and not talking to you, which technically means that I broke all their rules. However, if I get back early tonight they will never know, mother and him are much too interested in themselves to care that much about me."

"Oh… well I know how that feels, but often you just have to think that you are better with them not caring or noticing you for you see, when my father began to notice me, well… I, being so interesting and thrilling, did something bad to his mental state and he then proceeded to poison myself, his own brother and Lynceus, so you see it is often better to be ignored." Gods! What possessed me to say that to her, surely that did not foretell good things for her future?

She smiled, "It is good that you can smile and make jokes about terrible things like that Nestra."

"Well… enough about me, I know not that you had sisters."

"Two of them; both as beautiful as my mother; same hair; same face; same eyes; same size; father loves them."

"Are they truly as beautiful as you? How old are they?"

"As beautiful as I am ugly; and they are both younger than I am. What will we do today? I have not been out much in the six years that we have not seen each other for what happened last time often happens and it results in father being more and more angry with me."

So… her father loved his daughters, but not his wife's daughter, that was cruel. My heart went out to Psyche, my father hated all of his children and showed no favour to any one, only indifference and sometimes spite when one of us did something wrong.

"We will go out then, but first we had better do something about your hair, I think you will be alright for your face and eyes will just look as if you are foreign, but your hair combined with them makes you different. I will get Greer to braid your hair for you as I am terrible at doing things with mine and will most likely be even worse when doing another's hair."

We walked back to my rooms, and I watched the reunion between Greer and Psyche. With beautiful, colourful ribbons and string we, for I passed Greer the threads, turned her soft pale hair into a riot of screaming colours, making it unable for anyone to guess her natural hair colour.

"I look a fright, Gods, what have you turned me into?"

"You look perfect for we will be going not to the market, but to a camp of travellers that we currently have residing in Argos, it is a sight that you will not see again for a long time, I can promise you that!"

With Greer tucked into Psyche's loving arms, I fear that she was sorely missed by her previous owner during her time with me, we walked out of the city after gaining permission from Danaus and therefore a permission slip with his crest on that would give us a free pass straight through the city gates.

The camp of the travelling folk, called gypsies by all the common people, was easily visible from miles away, furious fires sent thick pillars of grey smoke up into the sky, music blared out from every side, loud, happy and the sort of which even the most aged or infirm of people would spring up and dance to as fast and as brightly as possible. Coming closer, the horses that pulled the people along in their wooden wagons were peacefully grazing in fields far away from distraction, well trained for they did not twitch so much as a muscle at the loud noise, while the wagons were painted such colours, the likes of which I doubt the people standing on the edge of the camp, peering in fearfully, had ever seen before. We passed the crowds, many of the people saying how vulgar and awful the gypsies were, other simply too stunned to comment.

Greer was one of those people, she had decided to no longer be a cat and in front of all the crowds she had attracted more than enough attention herself, now she was dressed and being too quiet to be normal all of the attention was diverted back to the travellers. She stared at them and demanded that I tell her who these strange people were.

"They have no fixed homes except those wagons which they live in, and they travel about, going from one place to another. It must be such a fascinating life, moving about, I would love to spend some time with them, going to new places and seeing new things. Some times the children of one place fall in love with a traveller or just in love with their way of life, which is why they some times have a bad reputation of snatching away children, but you know that they are very friendly and are fantastic at fixing broken things."

"They look very… colourful…" Psyche stammered, unable to describe the sight in front of her adequately. "Almost as colourful as my hair."

As we walked into the camp, the children running about with braids similar to Psyches, often wearing nothing or very little, Greer picked up on this and asked me why she could not walk about with nothing on like them since it was obviously acceptable for them to do so. I sighed and pointed out the fact that they were children, Psyche chipped in and told Greer they were from the Gypsy culture and probably had different rules on acceptable behaviour that were not like ours, all Greer said in return was "So what?"

Teaching Greer is like trying to teach the sun to shine at night instead of in the day. Impossible, totally impossible, exasperating, and completely pointless, she makes a point of not understanding, I am sure she does.

The women wore long, flowing robes, dyed in such beautiful colours that I knew by the end of this day I would have some of them and I would force Psyche to buy some as well. Their hair tied back with colourful scarves that matched their clothes, some wearing braids, others leaving their long flowing hair down. Their hair was as dark as mine but not as unruly, their skins as dark, if not darker than mine, I felt straight at home there. In their ears were many gold hoops and dangling ear rings, around their throats were at least two necklaces for every one of their ear rings.

Seeing Psyche and her colourful hair, many people smiled and pointed at her, this time, even though Psyche was quite obviously very different, white in a sea of black and brown, she stood out, they noticed her in a nice way. They did not throw things or shout insults, but encouraged her and shouted out her approval of her choice of hair style. Stalls, brightly colours like the wagons, advertised their wares, some selling potions and spells such as concoctions that made people fall in love with you, or things that made you more beautiful. I stayed well away from those places, I had heard rumours of people, buying potions and said potion having a nasty effect on them.

"Where would you like to go first?" I asked them, Psyche answered, saying anywhere was alright with her, but Greer caught sight of a sign and wanted to find out what it was, need I tell her that curiosity killed the cat? Oh well… if I did she would only tell me with a grin that satisfaction brought it back.

The sign was a hand, palm facing upwards, and it did not take a genius such as Eros to figure out what the woman waiting in the doorway was selling. She was a palm-reader and I had absolutely no faith in tricks used by such like her. People had taken a lot of money off fools by pretending to read minds and claiming to be a psychic.

Once I told Greer that she lost interest, she did not want some one to read her palm and find out that she was not really a human, judging by the reaction Psyche had been a victim of years ago, I think that the reaction facing Greer if any one found out what she was would be ten times worse, she walked off in the search of food. But Psyche was fascinated and wanted at once to go in there and have her palm read. I was more prudent.

"You know that most of them only want to take your money off you, you should not believe a word that they say for it is mostly false, or what you already know and they can guess, and afterwards they charge extortionate rates for their services." I hissed in her ear, not wanting the woman to hear me, stories that said the Gypsy people had powers like special hearing and sight make me watch my tongue. I did not want to be on the wrong end of a curse.

"Come in dears, I will tell you what your palms say, I will tell you things that will happen to you, come and do not doubt my skills."

Psyche walked up to her and with a smile asked for her palm to be read, the woman told her that simply for her hair she would do it for free. Then turned around and asked if I wanted mine read as well.

"No…" I answered, minding my words, "I will only watch, I do not believe in things like this."

"How," Psyche hissed at me, "Can you say such things after what happened in the market those years ago."

"It only makes me more aware that there are people around who would pretend such things. No thank-you, I will only watch."

The woman cracked a wide grin, "A non-believer, I will make a believer out of you, dear, come along and I will read your palm too, I will make you a believer."

"And how much precisely would this conversion cost?"

"Nothing, I will only take the price of making you a believer, such bitterness does not sit well with a young girl."

"I am not so young any more and it has been merely life that made me bitter. Fine, I will let you read my palms, but beware, I will hold you to your promise of paying nothing."

We walked into her room, through a curtain of bead, shimmering in the sunlight; there in the centre of the room was a wooden table, covered in silk cloth. Around the walls were embroidery and cloths that made the room brighter. There were only two chairs at the table, she looked at us and said,

"Shall I bring another chair, or do you wish to have individual readings?"

"I would rather have another chair please; anything you say to me can be said to Nestra too."

She brought in another chair and placed it besides the one she had already, me and Psyche sat next to each other, opposite from the woman whose name we were to learn was Aleta, meaning, if you can believe it, honesty or truth; another reason that Psyche gave me to believe her.

She took me first, probably getting the most difficult over and done with, asking me for the hand that I did most things with like drawing, or writing, I gave her my right hand and she studied it intently.

"Well…" She traced a line on my hand, "This line is your life line, look at it, it is small and deep, that means that you have a lot of vitality and are able to overcome problems, but look, it is rather straight, indicating a cautious nature. That you have to say is true of you."

"Yes, but that does not tell me of my past or of my future which is what you advertised."

"Patience, patience," She said with a smile, "Well... oh dear, look at this, two stars on the line means two crisis's in your life, one you have already had, in your early youth, and another coming now, in later youth, but there are many lines extending upwards and above your life line telling me that you cope rather well, and are able to recover from many situations."

Well… I knew that I had had one crisis already and was preparing for the crisis that would put my sisters in eternal punishment and me too if I did not do the right thing.

"See this line here," She pointed to a line underneath my index finger, "This is your heart line, and it has a star on it which means that you will be happy in your marriage, and looking at your marriage line I can tell you that you will have a lot of children, not quite as much as your father and his fifty offspring, but more than enough for one woman I would imagine."

I knew now that the woman was definitely lying, she had to be, what could I do now? If my palm and my visions said that I would have children and a lot of them, what was I going to do?

"Umm… how many children will I have? Not that I intend to have any, but just curious."

"Well, one line meeting the marriage line but not crossing means one child, and you have six lines and one line that is rather strange and could possibly mean that you have twins. Dear dear, what are you going to do with them? You poor thing"

I scowled this was not going well for me. Not well at all.

"Now this is very interesting, very interesting, you have the line of intuition."

She said this as if I should know what it was and it really annoyed me when Psyche gasped as if she too knew what it was; this was beginning to be very very irritating.

"The line of intuition means that you have strong insight and… if you have this line you are extremely sensitive person and it does indicate that you could be psychic, look, my community sort through all our children and look for this mark because if you have it then you learn things like palmistry and telling the future, I have the same mark, look." She thrust out her palm at me and there on her palm, at the bottom, underneath her little finger was the very same curving line that I had on my own palm. I was really annoyed and irritated now.

"There is not much more I can tell you that you probably do not already know about your own future, only that there is danger coming your way as it has in the past Hypermnestra so beware."

Turning her back on me, she faced Psyche, now that we were done I gave a sigh of relief, I simply did not want to know these things, I did not want to know that I, after all, was going to marry Lynceus, I did not want to know that we would have seven screaming, noisy horrible children, I did not, I can not, I just did not want to know.

Aleta was apparently in heaven looking at Psyche's hand because it was totally fascinating. There were so many things wrong with it.

"You have a very long line, thin but deep, not the sort of thing I would find on the hands on mortals, this means that you will live a very long time. This does not make sense at all."

"Could it be…" I muttered under my breath, "That it is your skills in the wrong here and not Psyche's hand?"

Psyche hit me and muttered and quiet 'shut up' to me.

"Look at your life line, very curved around your thumb; now this means that whoever you marry, let me just ask if I can borrow him for a few nights too, because this is a very interesting line. You too have a star on your heart line which means happiness in your marriage, but, look here, there is a tiny break in it, indicating a loss of some sort but then it tells me there is a return as well, so maybe the person you love goes away for a time without you but then returns. Very curious your palm little one. You have several lines going upwards from your heart line meaning happiness, but no lines going down that indicate disappointment."

She paused to look at Psyche's small hand again, and continued, "You will have children too, very special children, in fact your life will be very different to others, unique, you will go through a lot of change in your life. But you have a great of spirit and love about you."

With that she got to her feet, signalling the end of the reading, we rose with her and walked to the door.

"Remember to beware Hypermnestra, and you Psyche, well… good luck with your life because I cannot for the life of my figure out the strangeness of your hand, it is beyond my powers. I must say that with both of you so special, I am glad you two let me read for you."

"You realise," I said to Psyche as we had found Greer and told her everything, "that the reason she could not figure out your own hand was not because of any faults on your palm but because she was a fraud and we were lucky not to have to pay for her reading."

With a scowl and a push she ignored me and began excitedly telling Greer all about her reading, her long immortal life and everything, let me just say that if Psyche becomes immortal, well then I will willingly have seven children to Lynceus. How likely that will be, very unlikely, but keeping my mind open, quite possible.

We carried home all of the things we had bought, dressed, robes, and shirts all in the same beautiful colours. Psyche sneaked back into her rooms, as she said, no one would realise that she had gone, and no one did.

So like me, so unlike me, I truly felt sorry for her. Her life was to be as troubled as mine was. Gods! What tangled lives we mortals live!

5, 150 words! Now I been hospitalised from the shock of writing so much and have been put into hospital, review or else I will kill Lynceus and return to writing only 1, 000 words.

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 4000 words a go.


	29. Barricade My Heart

A/N: Go and read my best friend's stories, 1madcat, especially 'if you are what you are not.'

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

_Do not enter here… go back… run… do not enter here…_

Psyche and her parents were to stay for a few more weeks here in our land, so as was proper and right to do, Danaus threw an expensive and pointless ball in their honour. As was expected, Psyche had to come for it would have been seen as an insult if she had not, and so too did I have to go. Therefore at the party we both would be there and I was determined to find a way to talk with her regardless of how her parents felt about that.

Little did I realise that tonight would change both of our lives, for you see destiny is not written on stone, hard, inflexible and never changed, our paths are written on elements such as air or water, fluid, changeable objects. For really as the old proverb says, does the walker chose the path or the path the walker? Either way we still have to walk that path so what does it matter who chooses it? My own fate was on water surely for every step I took on it I sank further and further under it, drowning and causing others pain and harm, but such as it was, I could not rise up, only sink more and more downwards. Psyche had a very interesting future ahead of her, and I did not need a palm-reader to tell me that, not only to do with her strange colouring that only made me like her more because of it and not in spite of it, but because she was so much like me. Little did I know that she too would have a hard life and that life would be a direct cause of me and the ball tonight.

We had been walking about my grounds, around the ponds and the small areas of water; it was a peaceful day, contrasting with the noise, excitement and energy that would be evident in the air tonight.

"I will be going soon, in a day to two; I will miss you, both of you. I only hope that soon we will meet again, you know Nestra that if you need my help, protection from your father or anything, you only have to come to our land, to my palace and I will give you my protection straight away. Come here Greer, I have missed you so much, and look how you have changed; you are not the girl that I cared for anymore."

Greer walked over to Psyche and flung her arms around her, the two girls cried quietly, sniffing softly. I felt guilty now; it was after all, my fault that they were separated because if I had not written to Psyche because I was lonely, she would not have given Greer to me.

"I have missed you too Princess, take care of yourself. Maybe we will see each other again."

"You know…" I said, unsure whether Psyche or Greer would take this as an insult, "Greer, you could always go back with Psyche, because you know what will happen if you stay here; and Psyche needs some one."

As soon as the words left my mouth Psyche began shaking her head violently and Greer, wiping a few tears away from her tilted amber eyes, looked insulted. Maybe I should not have said that knowing how up-tight Greer was about honour and how insulted she had been those years ago when she had come first to me and I had told her to go back to Psyche.

"No, you are my mistress now, not Psyche; you need me more than she does. I live here now, I have friends and I have my life here. I have told you before that I do not fear Death, my time with you has been happy, my time on Earth has been full of joy, I am proud to have been so long your friend and to have watched over you."

"Are you sure?" I asked them again, wanting to give them a second chance, silently begging them to accept the offer and to take Greer away to a safer place, but hoping within myself that they said no, I needed all the friends I had.

"Even if Greer wanted to come back with me, I would not let her. She belongs with you now; you do need her more than I do."

As the sun was high in the sun, signally mid-day, we wandered back to my rooms to get ready for the ball. Greer said that she would rather spend a day with Artemis than go to it with us and have strange humans looking at her and talking about her, so she would stay in my rooms until it finished. Celcy was out, searching in the bars or popular places for any rumours or hints of ships coming this way, ships with fifty men in as well as the crew. She had been doing this for some time now, trying to find out if Lynceus and his brothers were truly coming to Argos. So far she had heard nothing, and considering that hiding a great big ship and fifty men in it would be extremely hard, I had no hope that they would be coming soon.

"Will you braid my hair again for me Greer?" Greer nodded her assent and smiling wrapped an arm around Psyche's shoulder. I, on the other side of Psyche, wrapped a much longer arm around both of them, and walking as if we had but one body, we wandered back to the palace.

"We still have a little more time left; can we play something before we go inside and make ourselves look beautiful and spectacular?"

I snorted loudly, "You know before we look so beautiful and spectacular we should ask the Gods for a miracle in order to dazzle every one; but alright we can play a game. First, Greer, can I borrow that ribbon in your hair?"

She pulled the bright scarlet ribbon out of her long grey hair and passed it to me; taking the white scarf out of my own hair I tied one around Psyche's ankles, and the other around Greer's.

"You have to start here and run or rather hop all the way to the other side of the ponds. Right down to the houses. Get ready, and… go!"

They hopped and bounced for some way until Psyche, shrieking like a mad woman slipped on the grass and fell, remember that simple sandals were worn only for balls or important events and all of us were bare-footed, Greer, laughing at her, was determined that she would not slip, but unfortunately Psyche had a firm grasp on Greer's skirts and with one tug, brought Greer down along side her. They collapsed in a pile of giggling, shrieking limbs and I sat down on the grass, laughing until I felt tears slide down my face. Watching them as they bounced across the grass, then Psyche as she slid and fell on her backside was too funny to tell you about.

"You cheated; you brought me down with you."

"I did not! You slipped on the grass like I did."

They turned to me and said indignantly, "I know not what you are laughing at; it is much harder than it looks."

To prove it was, Psyche who wanted another try at hopping along, both legs acting as if they were one, raced against me, Greer who wanted nothing more to do with this 'childish and foolish game' sat down and watched us.

I had not moved much, my hair bouncing up and down with my wayward curls, before Psyche, smiling at me, jumped in my way and tripping me up. Greer was laughing at me as hard as I had been laughing at her previously. I reached out and grabbed Psyche's legs, with a pull soon she too was lying on the floor.

"You rotten cheater, why you are as bad as Eros is!"

"You are taller than me and faster, I needed an advantage."

She looked down at her robe as she untied the white scarf around her legs and gave it back to me, and I passed Greer's ribbon back to her, Psyche grimaced then looked up, apologetically at me, "Are you angry at me? I did not mean to get grass stains on your robe. I am sorry."

"It was an old dress, and when I was your age, why my clothes were not only covered in grass stains, but mud and all sorts too. Fear not, I am not cross with you." I smiled at her as I retied my hair back into place.

Greer looked at us with disdain, she did not like getting dirty because it meant a bath in the end and that meant water.

"You are filthy… ughh… you have to have a bath." She smirked at us a little, pleased that she would avoid that horrendous fate.

"If we have to have a bath then you have to too."

"I am not dirty, why do I need a bath?" Did I not say previously that curiosity killed the cat? After the trick that I would play on Greer, not even the satisfaction of beating me into a tiny, horrible pulp would bring her back!

"Because…" I bent down next to Psyche and scooped up a ton of grass and maybe a little bit of mud, hiding it behind my robes so she could not see it. "I think that in a few seconds you will." With that I threw the mud at her, and it hit her right on target, Greer's face!

With a high pitched yowl she launched herself into the air, heading straight for me, Psyche, joining in on Greer's side, rolling about with us. Tumbling about, spinning around and around on the grassy floor. Avoiding Greer's sharp claws was my main concern as well as Psyche and her gently viscous fingers as she sought out and found my ribs and tickled me. Some friends they were! But deadly enemies they made nevertheless! We tossed about, me giggling hysterically and them, finding my predicament just as amusing.

I untied my hair again, and straightening out the wrinkled, creased and stained scarf that held back the great mass of hair that I was cursed with, and holding it in my hands, I waved it around in front of Psyche and tinkling Greer's nose with it. She sneezed repeatedly and loudly and Psyche laughed at herself and us. If we had been only a little dirty before, we were most definitely in dire need of water and some of that gorgeous smelling soap that I had found in a market place, fell in love with and bought near enough the whole stall, for a more than fair price too!

"I will tell my servants to start to fill up a bath now, in about half and hour it will be done."

My bare feet padded softly on the wooden floor as Psyche shrieked again because Greer had throw mud at her and reciprocating she had put grass in Greer's long grey hair. Hearing that high-pitched yowling of Greer's struck a memory in me, the same sound that had greeted me when I came into my room and found Greer on the floor, her blood pooling about her, a stake pushed through her stomach. That memory flooded back to me and froze my blood to ice, was this a warning? Was this a hint telling me that I would come home to that sight tonight, tomorrow or some day very soon? Maybe I could drug Greer and put her into a box and send her off with Psyche, surely that would keep her safe, because it was a vision of what would happen here, in this very palace, in these very rooms, so if Greer was not here, then she would not die, admittedly, I would die if she ever got out of the box and saw me again. It would be an indignity too much for Greer, what with the grass and the mud, and she would demand an instant and painful revenge on me.

Finding my servants chattering in their rooms, I smiled, it was so rare that they relaxed and let down their guard. I waited just inside the room for a few minutes until they saw me in the doorway, then they leapt up like they had sat on a bumblebee, and I calmly, for those women had moved so quickly I did not want to excite them any further, and asked them to prepare a bath for me. Instantly they started to bustle about the rooms, grabbing oils, scents and things that would create multi-coloured, shining bubbles in the water.

Screaming like maniacs outside to some boys, wandering out aimlessly, they called them in and told them to fetch buckets of water inside to fill up the massive metal bath that the two girls who served me pushed out into the centre of the room covered in tiles especially made for bathing and water and the ultimate mess that I would make.

Later, after the bath was filled we walked inside, the servants screaming once more banished the boys out of my room, my servants needed a break or a holiday; that much was certain. I banished the servants from my rooms, honestly, they were fantastic, they really were to work for me and put up with me and my eccentricities but just sometimes they could be a little… loud, especially when you were trying to relax in peace. I wandered about, lighting candles and lights as Greer and Psyche threw all their dirty clothing into a pile and jumped into the bath. You could hear the screaming, the fighting and the arguing from miles away as they had water fights, Psyche knowing Greer's weakness about water and taking full advantage of it. What did I say about noise and wanting to relax?

They came out wrapped in sheets that had been drenched to almost see-through; it was a good thing that the doors and windows were closed; else any one coming by, watching Greer and Psyche dressed like Queens in plain sheets fighting with bubbles and my precious soap would have thought us all a harem of crazed mad women.

Sinking back into the water I blocked out the noise of them, of Psyche bouncing up and down on my feather stuffed mattress and of Greer sending her scathing remarks.

"Nestra get your backside out of the bath and help me, what do I wear? Do I put on some of those dark black clothes with the cloak that hid my face and hair? Because what will I do if the people see me and start a riot there and then in your father's hall? I will not have a God of Love to protect me then and scare away my attackers, only my father, who I know, feels exactly the same as the people throwing insults at me, he thinks that I am a freak of nature."

"Why are you asking me for help? I know nothing about dressing or how to look good, for the Gods sake, my lover chose my dress for the ball I am that bad at that sort of thing, a man chose my dress! Why do you not just wear the opposite to black?"

"Nestra, that is a brilliant idea, Psyche would look lovely in white, like a God or an angel."

"I think that wearing white would make my problem worse, would it not exaggerate the fact I am a ghost instead of hiding it?"

"Why hide who you are? You are beautiful the way you are, different but still beautiful. Wear white and blind and dazzle them Psyche, never hide who you are. Not for anyone." Greer growled at Psyche.

"What will you wear? Promise me that when we go in that you will stay by my side and not move one inch from it, please, just in case they do go a little… crazy." Psyche looked at me, begging me with her eyes not to leave her on her own at the mercy of a crowd who despised her without even looking close enough to see how lovely she was on the inside.

"As long as if your parents come up to me and threaten me or try to pry me away from you then you stop me from insulting them or possibly harming them, I have far too few friends as it is, and mountains of enemies enough for three people."

Pulling open my chest of clothes my servants, barging their way back into my room started tearing through all of my things and throwing them at me,

"Red, or blue tonight?" Asked one of them to the other,

"No no no, green definitely." While the two of them squabbled about green or blue, the one who wanted green pulling the blue dress off the other girl, they seemed to forget who was going to have to wear the clothes after all and the fact that I did have a mind of my own and I could choose my own clothes without assistance thank you very much.

"You do know that I am perfectly capable of choosing my own clothes? I have already decided to wear green, is that alright with you two?"

Suitably abashed they put their heads down quickly and walked out of the room, but, I did not miss the faces the one who had recommended green pulled at the other. I breathed in and out and counted to ten… they were only girls, they were not as old as me… patience is a virtue… patience is good… finally I stopped hearing them and opened my eyes again.

"You know Nestra, those girls are quite annoying, how on Zeus' earth do you put up with them?"

I answered Psyche with a smile, "I ignore them, close my eyes and count very slowly to ten, open my eyes and they vanish. It is like magic."

Greer pulled Psyche by her hair over to the bed and seating her roughly below her, began plaiting and braiding and pulling her hair. Whilst that was happening, I was trying to get dressed and ignore Psyche as she twitched and muttered things under her breath about Greer pulling hard on purpose in revenge for the grass.

When Greer had finished, Psyche looked very very interesting with all of her shoulder-length hair pulled back, a white dress had been found for her, and although it sort-of fit her, it was just a little too long.

"Greer… can I plait your hair too? I think I can do it now, please… please…"

Greer nodded, she liked her hair being played with and brushed, so the two switched places and after one go… two goes… then finally three goes, Psyche got it right and Greer's long grey hair was plaited close to her head.

"Do you want me to do your hair Nestra? Just do not get Psyche to do because she pulls and takes so many times to get it right."

"That is not fair…" Psyche said, "I have never tried to braid some one's hair before, you cannot expect me to get it right the time can you?"

While Greer plaited, pulled and wrenched out my hair, all the while cursing it bushiness a great deal, my servant reappeared back into the room as if I had not just told hem to go, seeing that I was indisposed and they cold not fuss and annoy me, they turned to Psyche and flurried around her, cooing and ahhing over her.

"Mistress…" Said one tentatively, the one who had preferred green I think, "Shall I bring in some powders and colours for your faces?"

Some plants and other things could be crushed and dried to leave behind a fine powder, the colours of which would have look right at home on a Gypsy's wagon, brushed gently over the eyelids they shone with a beautiful light, I loved them, but do not think that I myself that made them, that would have been a disaster in the making and would have caused a great deal of mess that no doubt would have been exaggerated out of all proportion by my delightful servants.

"If you would, thank-you."

Hurrying out they now had a purpose and within minutes they were back with their incessant chatter and just their loud presence.

"Can I have some of that green powder, do you want any Psyche?"

"No, I fear I would look very strange if I took some, although I look strange anyway."

Grabbing hold of my shoulders they forced me to sit down and to sit still. I fidgeted with my hands and my servants covered my eyelids in the vivid green colour. Then I suffered them as they fussed, arranging my hair 'just so' and smoothing down creases in my dress that were not there and if they were, those tow clucking hens had caused them.

Psyche and me walked outside and up the path together, we had bid our good-byes to Greer who had told us in no uncertain terms that she was glad that she was not us! Shyly and slightly nervous about the party Psyche look up at me for I still stood both head and shoulders taller than her and linked her fingers in mine, I tried not to flinch when she did that, but after years here on my own I was not used to people touching me, I felt so protective towards this girl, I would not let anything or anyone hurt her. Reaching into the flower-bed she picked up a soft-white flower and entwining two of her braid together she inserted it into her hair.

"You look nice, do not worry, the room will be too overcrowded for them to realise that you are a little… paler than everyone else."

She smiled at me grateful for the obvious and very bad lie I had just told her, "We are very different appearance-wise, you are rather dark and I am rather unfortunately pale."

Swinging our arms we skipped up the road, I was acting as if I was thirteen again, which had been such a long time ago, only it seemed like yesterday.

Soon we were walking in to the room, where hundreds and hundreds of people, high in society, would be inside. Our hands still joined together, because Psyche needed that physical contact to reassure her. The room went silent despite the fact that we had entered late, quietly and through the back entrance like serving maids. The conversation dying down to a dull hum then to silence; I am not that arrogant to think it was because of me though, it was Psyche people were staring at, tiny, innocent Psyche in all of her pale glory. High cheekbones with that small, tentative smile in a face that would some day outshine even her mother's beauty.

Her father broke the silence as he rushed up, grabbing her by her shoulder and telling her to get to her room and get changed before she truly shamed him. His wife, Psyche's mother stood there at his side, oblivious or simply not wanting to help her own daughter, Gods, the woman was only a few years older than I was!

"You look like a freak, how could you possibly look worse you little fool."

Shrinking back from her father's snarl, she moved unconsciously behind me, I straightened myself up to my full height, taller than her father! Others came towards her, arms outstretched, touching her to see if she was truly a ghost.

"So it is true that you have a daughter who is a spectre, is she truly cursed?"

All of the insults thrown at her all those years ago were once again flung back into her face, 'white one' 'phantom' 'cursed one' 'soulless.' I was getting very mad listening to it, watching her father and mother as they did nothing. How could they say that she was soulless when her very soul was reflected by her appearance? Slowly, the hundreds and hundreds of people who were here in this room circled around us, Psyche's father and mother making sure that they were not in the centre of the circle. I, however was making sure that I kept my promise and I did not leave her, like Psyche had said, she did not have Eros this time to protect her and scare away all of her victimisers, all she had was me, and although I could not spout wings and make my hands and feet turn to fire, I was determined that I would be every bit as good as he was in protecting and defending her, for remember, still had a tongue as sharp as knives, and a temper that was rapidly catching fire.

Dragging Psyche along by her elbow the crowd moved with us until I reached a chair, taking Psyche by her arm-pits I lifted her up onto the chair where she stood, taller now and more visible to everyone.

"Look at her," I shouted at them, eyes blazing, "Just look at her for a moment without seeing how white she is, and see her as if she was just a normal girl, look at her and see how beautiful she is. How can you say that she is a freak of nature? How can you call her cursed just because she looks different to everyone else? How can you so quickly judge her purely on that fact that she is so pale and you lot are so dark? Why can you not look inside her to see the purity of her soul, her kindness and strength? How beautiful inside and outside she is?"

Psyche stood there, listening to with that solemn face, those blue eyes shooting ice out to anyone who even thought of speaking as the people began to talk excitedly about what I had just said, then she screamed at them, that was something that I had not been expecting, and I was more than just a little surprised by it.

"What…" She screeched, "Gives you the right to call me different… we are all different. I am no more a freak than you are, and I am not cursed. What gives you mortals the right to say who is beautiful and who is not what gives any of you the right to call me those names?"

As she addressed them like a Queen, standing on that chair, the mutterings grew as the crowd in a matter of minutes and two girls screaming and ranting at them totally changed their opinion of Psyche. Whether it was a change for the better or for the worse, I will leave that for you to decide my readers.

One woman, bolder than the rest came forward and pointed at Psyche. "Look at her, the Princess is right, she is beautiful… look she is an angel."

The light shone through a window at that time and it reflected off Psyche hair looking like a halo or crown of gold, illuminating her face and covering her in a cloak of light. At that moment she truly shone and looked just like an angel.

Not an angel…" Said another…"She is a Goddess incarnate, made flesh to come down to Earth and make us flawed mortals as holy and perfect as she is."

"She is not just any Goddess in human form…" Spoke yet another, "She is the deity of Love, Aphrodite herself in mortal flesh."

No, this definitely was not a change for the better, Psyche had gone from being cursed to being a Goddess, and quite literally only the Goddess knew what happened next, because for the life of me it was a shock to watch it unfold before my very eyes. One by one, in front of our shocked and stunned faces, the hundreds and hundreds of people who had just moments ago been telling each other not to touch Psyche unless they wanted to contract her curse, sank to the floor in unison, a sea of heads and hats and hair, fell to their knees in front of Psyche, waiting for her to bless them. I saw my father at the back, unsure that he should too be kneeling before her or not, I watched as he decided to follow the crowd and he too fell down to the floor. Psyche eyes, as round as plates, watched in wonder.

"Get up and stop being so foolish, I am not a Goddess." She whispered in the room, her whisper echoing, one woman lifted her head,

"Hail the Goddess, the woman whose soul is so pure she is as white as a ghost."

With that the room erupted in madness, and I watched, transfixed as the flower fell, out of Psyche's hair to the floor, and knew that whatever was going to happen to me in the next few minutes would not be good to Psyche or myself.

I looked forward to the crowd and said in a dull voice whilst trying so desperately to stop, why would my body not obey my commands any more?

"_Ghost child, pure of soul_

_Needs only a partner to make her whole._

_A monster she'll love, _

_High soaring in the skies above._

_Wings gleaming free and lose,_

_A creature with more power than Zeus._

_You'll gain his love and lose it too,_

_None can predict what will happen to you._

_Hideous too, cover your eyes,_

_Will you ever really see through his disguise?_

_Be this truth, be this lies,_

_It's up to you, for you to decide."_

I stood there, powerless as I watched the people's faces widen in horror, and Psyche's father as his face clenched in disgust. I turned to see Psyche as she jumped off the chair and run away out of the room, the people melting back for her. I followed her out after hearing the whispers of 'she truly is a Goddess, to be destined for one more powerful than Zeus.' I could see her no longer and I knew that she needed time on her own.

I walked back to my rooms, something about this day was wrong, Gorgophone was missing from the room and she went to every single on of the balls in case she missed out on a new dress or a dance or something. But not to this one, that was strange and besides that I had this feeling like I had been here before, doing this, walking down this very hallway dressed like this, which was totally ridiculous as I had never worn this dress before. Then, suddenly I knew where I had seen this before, I had seen this in my vision of Greer dying. As fast as I could I ran through the gardens, through the palace back to my rooms, as I approached, I knew that Greer would know I was near, she always did through that bond that linked her to me, some sort of magic that I had not been able to understand, just like Greer not being able to understand why I was such a prude.

_Do not enter here… go back… run… do not enter here…_

It was Greer's voice in my head, and she had never done that before, something was wrong, and she was in danger. Then, just as I had slid up to the door, the yowling started, the howling of something in pain, of an animal dying. I slipped through the door quietly, but not caring that anyone inside there could kill me or hurt me. Knowing the sight that I would find inside; knowing that once again I was too late; too late to save one of the few friends that I had. One of few people that had worked their way underneath my skin, and now had been wrenched out.

Greer lay on the floor, exactly as she had been in my vision, I pinched myself, wanting to wake up, praying to wake up, and telling my body that I was asleep. But no… I was awake and Greer was dying. My heart, the same one that had been frozen for so long until I met Lynceus, was breaking once more, and it was so painful I almost cried out. She was so small, so tiny, lying on the floor with that awful, wooden stake pushed through her, with that pool of blood surrounding her and growing by the second. I ran up to her, tears running down my face once more Gods, I had sworn to myself that I would never let anyone make me feel like this, never would my heart break like this, never would I cry and there I was, this had happened twice now, I was hopeless.

I lifted her up into my lap and smoothed back the braid off her tiny face, never mind that her blood was seeping through my clothes onto my skin, never mind that she was dying, all I wanted was for her not to be alone. She gasped for breath and spoke to me,

"Do not blame yourself Nestra, I have died in the service of great woman. You have done me great honour by being my friend. We know that this day had to come, you saw it, and you were prepared." I nearly cried ten-times harder at this, she thought that me being her friend was an honour, no… her being my friend had been the honour.

"Death has no preparation. You were never in my service, you were my friend not my servant. Who did this, tell me please," When I found out I would rip the person limb from limb and burn them without coins, the ultimate dishonour and shame, the very same thing I had done for the maid.

I moved her so she laid side-ways in my arms and could see my face and look up at me.

"I am not going to for you will exact punishment onto her… and I do not want you to carry around another… death on your shoulders, you… feel too much guilt… as it is. But she… may try to hurt you… so I will tell you…it was…" In my arms she stopped breathing and passed on, her head falling limply to the side, her tiny body no longer in pain, but no longer in this world.

I felt too much guilt for the innocents, Aegyptus, Pelasgus, even my stepmother, who had all died through my inactions or actions, but I knew she was right; my father's maid still haunted my dreams, I knew I could kill again, but whether I would be able to cope with killing again, I do not know.

As tears fell onto the floor, many splashing into the pool of blood, some one stepped out of the shadows, gloating at me. Need I tell you who it was? It was my sister, the person who was my blood, my family, meant to love me. She had killed Greer.

"Why did you kill her, she did you no wrong, why? All she did was be my friend was that why you killed her?"

"I actually came to maybe throw your things about, root through your things and maybe wait for you and beat you up a little; but the cat thing here." Her face twisted in repulsion as she looked at the Greer's small body, so I slapped her, hard. "Was waiting and it turned into a human, it's a demon, which is why I killed it. Cursed and evil, nothing should be able to turn into another thing, it is sick, like you. It was rather hard to kill…" She mused for a moment.

I wanted so badly to hit her again, kick her, make her hurt in the exact same way she had hurt Greer. But I did not, while inside my blood boiled and I felt like screaming, outside I remained calm and cool. What was wrong with me? Was I sick like she had called me?

"I am going to do nothing to you this time." I walked up to her and grabbed her by her hair, she squirmed and twisted but could not get free, and I dragged her out of the door. "Because, you know destiny has already marked you and your sisters for Death, remember Gorgophone no rest or respite, for all eternity you must pay the price. The promise of you spending forever in Hell, punished with no rest for all of eternity is far more appealing than quickly killing you now. Revenge is best served cold, I do not wan to anger The Fates and I will wait for years if it just means seeing you begging pleading and then finally killed."

With that I marched her, kicking and screaming, out of my rooms, but not out of my life sadly, I kicked her literally out of them and told her that in no uncertain terms if I ever saw her again I would not hesitate in killing her.

I managed to walk a little further onwards to at least give the illusion of strength, but then I collapsed in a pile on the floor. Sobbing I sent a silent message to Artemis and Eros to come and help me, that I needed them. They came, saw the state that I was in, picked me up and carried me home silently together. Words could not possibly describe the sight that greeted them as they took me through the door, and they could not describe Artemis' reaction, she was more affected than either me or Eros despite the fact that she had hated her. I picked myself up and pulled myself together, on either side of me we carried Greer out, put coins on her mouth and we buried her in a shallow grave in the gardens, next to the fish ponds that she had loved so much; marking it with small stones, trailing around it.

That night they slept next to me, Artemis on my left and Eros on my right, their bodies giving my cold heart little warmth or heat, as I shivered and tears still fell down Artemis' face. Why did I do it to myself, why did I let myself love some one only to have them wrenched away from me? Why could I not close off my heart? Why did I hurt so much? I drifted off to sleep only when birds began to sing and the sun began to rise, only when Artemis woke and saw me still awake and blew sleep onto me.

6, 477 words! Gods help me, I am still in hospital, have had yet another heart-attack and maybe a stroke, please review or else the muse will get mad and not return. Worry not, promise Lynceus is coming back (in the next chapter!)

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 4000 words a go.


	30. Caught Redhanded

A/N: Go and read my best friend's stories, 1madcat, especially 'if you are what you are not.'

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

So many nights I would spend awake and so many more lying in between Artemis and Eros, the warmth of their bodies next to the coldness of mine, failing to warm this heart of mine as I tried so hard in those times where I could not sleep to freeze myself to everyone so that I would never be able to hurt like this again, so that I would never lose anyone that I loved again because I would not let myself love. As I said, I tried desperately, and failed harshly, for to live without an open heart is not to live fully at all. Simply the thought of Lynceus, how much he loved me and how much I… okay I will admit it, how much I loved him was a reminder that I could not close off my heart to people because that I would have no one who cared about me and that I cared about, and I could not survive this life on my own… especially, and remember that you my readers know everything about me so I can say to you and only you, that I could not live without Lynceus. Previously I had proved that by going into Death, simply or rather not so simply, to drag his sorry backside out of there, now I proved that by thinking of him more than was humanely, or by my standards, decently possible, and I liked it not at all. Not at all did I like it, not at all…

Celcy, arriving late at night after spending her time in bars and public houses trying to hunt out rumours came back elated to tell me that there was a large ship, bigger than anything anyone had ever seen before, even bigger than the one we had come to Argos on was coming, not even that news cheered me. To think that I had been worried about my adopted aunt as she wandered about outside; when what I truly had needed to fear was inside the palace, not outside. When told about Greer, Celcy was distressed that she had not been there to look after Greer, she and I mourned her together, every day afterwards we went to Greer's grave and we planted flowers there in memory of my guardian, a girl who had died in my service and had told me that it would be an honour to do so.

Psyche had collapsed in a flood of tears when I went to see her firstly to apologise for the ball and then secondly to tell her about Greer. We sat in a chair, her arms wrapped around my waist with more strength than I had thought she would have possessed, even if I had wanted to get loose, I would not have been able to. Her head rested on my shoulder and the sleeve of my robe was wet with her tears when she stopped crying. She got up only to have her father march in, tell her to get up, get dressed suitably; he then spared the time to shoot a venomous glare at me, then royally inform both myself and Psyche that they were going home, away from this place of madness, he turned and threw yet another glare at me as if all this had been my fault, then thank-fully left and put us out of the misery of suffering him being in the same room as him. The madness he had referred to was a crowd that had stayed the night outside Psyche's apartments, proclaiming her as the Goddess Aphrodite made flesh; that she was an angel, a heavenly immortal being. Need I remind him that he too, that night of the ball, had fallen to his knees in front of his daughter. So really, if it was truly madness then he had participated and encouraged it too.

But definitely Psyche had problems, and I, trying to help but eventually hindering, had made them worse, so Psyche was dragged away and I was left alone, just as before. Day spent lonely, nights spent recalling Greer's death, Pelasgus' death, the maid's, my uncle's, even my stepmother's, and my tiny brother's. At night, in the dark and quiet, without the weight and comfort of Greer's small body lying next to me on my bed, they came back to haunt me, their eyes, their voices, their ghosts walked my dreams and twisted them into nightmares. Inside I hurt so badly, but to all the world I showed a cold, collected face, little did they know how raw, how ripped apart I felt inside. All of this had been cause because of me, all of it. Lynceus and I had been ill-fated since before our very births, if he had not asked Danaus for my hand in marriage then we would not be here and all of those people would be alive, and how ever many drops of blood feel, one by one onto his hands, they fell and stained my own too. If only I had known what trouble I would cause, the heart ache I would suffer, but even though saying that sounds as if I would have avoided Lynceus if I had known about all of this and ignored him, but I know not whether I would have really been able to. How could this possibly be the right path to walk? How could it truly be the better choice?

This night was full of those thoughts, and full of promise of a long, hot, dusty summer. I slept alone and felt alone, with thin sheets wrapped securely around my body, in this gentle heat of almost Summer, I wore only a light, thin shift that would have been scandalous had any one been in my bed-chamber, but as I often said to re-assure both myself and Celcy, why would anyone that was not a woman be in my bed-chamber, and it was not as if I was walking about naked, was it? I regret saying that and wearing this now, as you will surely understand after reading this.

The first regret came while I was failing to brush my hair. I say failing because rather than the comb taming the hair, it was rather the other way around, my hair was taming the comb, for many of the comb tongues were bent the wrong way and at present count I missed three of them that had been snapped off, no… I was definitely failing to brush my hair.

"You know that what you are doing is impossible, so why even attempt to do it?"

Turning around slowly, for I knew who it was and I did not like him being in here, and my heart was beating so fast I thought that I would just have an attack of the heart here and now, however, if I screamed like I wanted to, Celcy would come running, what followed next would be a total disaster.

"Get out of here now Eros! Have you no propriety in you at all, this is my bed-chamber! Oh… in answer to your question, you yourself should know that the impossible is merely the improbable, I will brush my hair." I hissed at him.

"First of all, I do know that this is your bed-chamber, I have been in here many times you know, me and it are rather well acquainted, secondly, no I have absolutely no sense of propriety, thirdly about the hair, it is impossible and all you are doing to it at the moment is ripping it out," He winced, "Very painful… fourthly, what you are wearing is very nice, does the old crone know that you have it?" His amused tone was really… irritating me know.

"Yes, Celcy does know I have it… and if you really want to know, she had one just like it!" Placing the emphasis on Celcy, I tried to get him out of the habit of calling her 'old crone' because if he ever did it to her face, just see how she reacted to being called 'old'. Watching him cough and choke after telling him Celcy had a night-dress just like the one I was wearing was very satisfying.

"You know…" I said grinning evilly at him, giving up on the so-called brushing of my hair and began plaiting it, another disaster, "Celcy might come in at any moment wearing it, you could wait and tell her how nice you think her night-dress is and how lovely she looks in it if you want." He gulped.

"No… only here to tell you to put your white scarf out of your window tonight."

"Why?" Why did Eros want me to hang my white scarf out of my window, was this a prank or a trick he was going to play on me… or even a game? Or… even more interesting, was he just crazy? "What are you going to do to me… brother?"

"Nothing… wait… what was that?"

I grinned at him again, and shifted my weight onto the other foot, making an eerie creaking noise; he jumped again, "You know Eros that Celcy always checks in on me during the night, that was probably her getting up, you know, now is a perfect time to tell her…"

He broke in quickly, stopping me from finished my sentence, "Okay, okay, Gods, Gods and more bloody Gods, that woman is a tyrant! I am going…" He made to go but before he left he quickly gathered me up in his arms, in a tight hug. "I am here for you, love you sister."

"Love you brother, now… go before Celcy really does come in and catch you."

He left; leaping out of the window and vanishing, and I reached into my chest of clothes, and took out my white scarf, smoothing it out and held it close to me for a few moments, remembering the last time I had worn it, racing with our legs tied together. Stepping out onto my balcony I tied it around a wooden plank and sighed. Walking back into the room I jumped onto the bad and buried myself into the sheets.

The dreams that had been forgotten in the rush of dreams of the deaths of all those I cared about, returned this night, civil war in Argos and in my own country, people dying, war with soldiers, warriors from my old lands, or rather, from Lynceus' lands. Fighting and dying and the ordinary people, the peasants and the common folk, they starved. They starved and fought and died too, but from lack of food and supplies, due to a lack of money; people dead in the street; lining the paths; neighbour killing neighbour; others dying, thin, ill, and starving.

Why was there war here in Argos and why were there warriors, men from Lynceus' lands fighting against men from this land? Why were people starving, was all the money and food going to the soldiers? There was nothing left for the ordinary people, that plan sounded remarkably like the sort of ridiculous plan Danaus would think up; not very intelligent at all. But why did he have to resort to such stupid measures? Well… it was truly beyond me trying to understand why at the moment, but later, most but not all things would become clear, or rather… clearer.

It was on these thoughts, on the visions that I fell asleep, into the sort of sleep that I had not had in ages, sleep that did not turn into a nightmare or cursed vision, sleep where I neither tossed nor turned all night, unable to find peace. A real sleep for once, which was why, as you may realise, I was a little… irritated, when I was woken up.

I could have sworn it was a dream at first, if what followed had not followed, I mean, what would you have thought when at night, you are in bed, in a deep sleep then suddenly, inside your mind there is this voice, you would have thought that you were going mad, and that was what I thought too, for you se, the voice I heard, calling to me to wake you, was a voice that I could not possibly have heard because it was impossible for him to be here, sorry, it was improbable that he was here.

Still… it was Lynceus' voice I heard and after hearing it and thinking that I had truly lost my mind, I ignored said voice and went back to sleep, only to hear _'Nestra… wake up… wake up…'_ a simple whisper, but in my mind nevertheless, meaning that even after all these years, we could still communicate using our minds. That meant that he had to be close for me to be able to hear him. Now it was that thought that had me leaping out of bed like I had been caught by lightening. I looked about cautiously, if he was in my room I would kill him, very painfully to teach him what was done and what was not done, then, if his father had been alive, I would have go to Aegyptus and told him, then I would have let Aegyptus kill Lynceus even further, but as Aegyptus was dead, it was my responsibility to kill him.

I wrapped the sheet around me so tightly I could barely breath, wrapping it round and round and round so that there was no way on this Earth, even if he did happen to be somewhere in my bed-chamber, that he could see through the sheets to what I was wearing underneath the sheets. Walking slowly out through the room, I paused near the window, walking so slowly when all I wanted to do was run up to him and tell him how much I had missed him, then hit him. Leaning on the window I scanned my balcony, if he was not there, I was hearing things, and even immortals worried when that happened, if he was there, I honestly did not know what I would do. I still thought that this had to be a dream, I was dreaming that he was here, just like the others dreams I had had when he came here. Listening I heard a whistle calling from the balcony, hesitating I sang the notes back to him, waiting for a response, and I received it, the whistle came again. Reminding me of the many times when we had done this back in Egypt.

A shadow moved and in the silver of the moonlight I saw him, his black hair blending into the darkness, his black eyes gleaming onyx in the dark. Curses curses curses! He was still taller than me! What did I have to do to grow taller than him so that once, just once, I could intimidate him as much as he intimidated me. I was still convinced that this was yet another crazy dream, so I stayed where I was, in the shadows, forcing him to come to me because there was no way in Hell that I was moving to go to him, however much I wanted to.

As he walked, I watched him, looking for any sign of the poisoning, the effects of it, limps, falters in his long stride, for any sign of weakness, there were none and, to tell you the truth, and to warn you on pain of Death never to tell any one this, I just drank up the sight of him, he was like an addictive drug that had been denied me for so long, and I could not wait to taste it once again. He stood over me, smiling faintly, waiting for my reaction. His hair was longer than I had remembered and he was thinner too.

"This is a dream…" I said faintly, it had to be, had Celcy not told me that while there was a boat coming here, there had been no mention of fifty brothers on it, "It cannot be real."

His smile widened and those black eyes gleamed in a way that told me that he was thinking of something he most certainly should not have been thinking of.

"Would you like me to pinch you and prove to you that it is not a dream?"

I nodded, maybe it was not a dream, but if he pinched me and I did not wake up then I would know for sure.

Before my eyes, as fast as lightening, one arm snaked around my waist, his hand crawling down my spine, then lower, and even lower. Do you know what that wretched man did then? Do you want to know where he pinched? He pinched me on my backside, hard.

No, this was not a dream, in a dream he most certainly would not have done that and besides, I did not wake up. I slapped him across his face, hard.

"Have I done anything to you in the past six years that we have been apart that made you think that doing that would be acceptable to me? In fact have I ever led you to believe that doing that would be welcomed by me?"

All that damn man did was smirk and say, "Well… the slap was worth the look on your face and just doing it."

I scowled at him and backed as far away from him as the wall behind me would allow, just in case he decided to do it again.

"So…" He said with a smile as I wondered how I would treat him, how I would react, it was a little awkward, but obviously he did not think it was. "Have you missed me?"

That made me very mad, and remember that he had just annoyed me twice, so I was incensed by that time, I stepped up to him, mad as a cat thrown into water, no, that was not something that I should have thought of, it simply reminded me of Greer.

"Missed you!" I screamed, and slapped him; Celcy was out not waiting to come in at any hint of noise, her rooms were a long way from mine, I only told Eros that to get him out my bed-chamber as quickly as possible, "Missed you! How dare you even think about asking me that?" I slapped him again on the other side of his face. "Do you have the slightest idea of what has happened to me? Do you." Every word I punctured by hitting him, by now I was hysterical. "First I go into Death to save you and do you even know how I felt having to do that? I forgot who I was, I even forgot who you were, and then I found you and you put me through all of that." I whispered now, "You had forgotten me and everything; I honestly thought you were going to die. Do have any idea how that feels? Do you? When Eros dragged me out of Death I thought that I had left you there to die." Tears ran down my face, "I thought that I had lost you and then you come here and ask me if I missed you. How dare you ask me that? You made me cry, in Death you made me cry…" I whispered again, more brokenly, "I had never cried before… and you made me cry. You stupid stupid fool, you wretched boy… you made me cry."

His face fell from that grin as he watched me with concern to a frown, then, deciding that I would not slap him again, only keep on hitting him, he picked me up into his arms and in the dark carried me, still babbling on hysterically, and sank down into a chair with me still hitting him on his lap.

"Do you know what I have been through here, on my own; do you have the faintest idea?" Yes, I was incoherent and totally out of control, my mouth moving without thinking of what I was saying. "I escaped to come to you… that God's know why though and I get beaten for it... so many deaths here… the King… Greer… getting over your father's death and you ask me if I have missed you! I needed you … you stupid fool… I needed you and you were not here… I have missed you… missed so much… but I honestly know not why."

The crying ceased slowly and I stopped hitting him, he rocked me a little and whispered words to me softly. His arms still tightly around me and my own arms wrapped around his neck. He kissed my head and whispered some more to me,

"I'm sorry Ness, I'm sorry, I should not have said that, do not cry… I ma sorry that I was not there for you… do not cry… please…"

Eventually I came to my senses and straightened up a little. Relaxing the Death-grip I had on his neck, in return his arms relaxed and let me go. Ignoring the feeling of loss when he did that was easy, but getting up and standing on my own in front of him was hard, being in his arms made me feel safe and protected. Being on my own made me feel vulnerable and weak, and I hated feeling like that.

He stood up with me, no longer smirking in that infuriating way at me, looking serious and solemn.

"You said that you were beaten, show me." His tone told me that saying 'no' would result in him ripping off the sheets and my clothes with him searching my body for marks. It was something that I could not say 'no' to, besides that he was getting angry rapidly, his eyes a swirling dangerous grey.

I turned my back to him, and unwrapping the layers of sheets about me, I stood there in front of him, proudly and straight, I would act like a Queen for every inch of this humiliating show, my cheeks stained red not through embarrassment but from shame. I pulled my hair over to one side, and slipped my hands into the shoulders of my night-dress and tugged it down just a little, enough so that he could see the white marks criss-crossing over my back, but not so far enough that he could see anything else.

Wrapping arms about me he pulled me closer to him and kissed my back softly.

"I am sorry that this ever had to happen."

I pulled away from him to pull my robe back into place and to re-tie the sheet back around me, his eyes all the time watching me with amusement, and then I turned back around to face him.

"So what do you want, why have you just shown up here now and why do you think that you can just walk into my bed-chamber, we are not married yet."

"Yet…" He repeated, the smirk coming back onto his face gradually, "You want to know why I came here, what I want? I want you."

With that he effectively stopped any comment running through my head and froze all thoughts in my mind. With those words he pulled me back towards him and lifting my head up so that he could look me in the eye, and alternated between talking and raining kisses down my face.

"I have missed you so much… your hair… your voice… your smart mind… those sharp comments you shoot at me… most of all… I have missed this…"

He kissed my nose, my eyes and my cheeks. Finally I woke up out of whatever trance he had put me in, Gods finally I woke up, and what a nice waking it was! As fast as I could I looped my arms around his neck and brought him closer to me. Dragging my mouth away from his I moved up to his ear,

"I have missed you as well."

Protesting he pushed my mouth back to his; that half-smile still playing on his lips. His hands undoing my plait faster than I had done it in the first place then pushing his fingers up into it, tangling it up but for once, I just did not give a damn; my own hands were soon tangled in his hair. Fire raced through my veins instead of blood, heating my skin, and feeding the passion between us.

Gasping for breath I broke the kiss first and it was his scowl I looked up to instead of his eyes.

"We could get a little… carried away and you still have not told me why you are here."

"But getting carried away is good…" He looked at the expression on my face, I was not amused, and sighed, "We have been betrothed before our birth, all your sisters and my brothers have been, it is a binding agreement, you have to marry me and I you, you cannot wed anyone else, so I have come here to tell your father exactly that, and demand his permission. If not… well… I have brought soldiers with me and I will fight him and any one he puts in my way for you."

Things fell into place before my eyes as he said that, war in Argos, that was why there were soldiers from Lynceus' land here, fighting soldiers from Argos. If Danaus refused then that war was coming. Neighbours killing neighbours, people dying, people killing, people starving and sick; all because of me… my fault…

My face must have told me everything that I was feeling because he fell quiet and stopped talking.

"How are you feeling, have you recovered from the poisoning, how was your journey?" I asked him quietly, after to look in case in his eyes I saw him blaming me for what my father had done to him.

"The journey was fine, long, tiring but fine. I feel alright now, before, I felt awful, but yes… I have recovered."

"What about… Aegyptus…" I hesitated when saying his name, seeing the pain in his eyes.

"We cremated him… he is buried with his father and his father's father."

"Did you remember to place the coins on his eyes?"

He laughed at me, "How long have you been worrying about this?"

I blushed, "It was just a thought."

"Celcy was there to supervise it then she left to go to you. She made sure there were coins on his eyes."

"I should have been there."

"Do not worry about that… the one who carried out your father's beating… is she still… alive?"

"First of all that man is not my father, just call him Danaus please, as for that woman, she was the one who poisoned us, and no… she is no longer alive."

My silence told him more than any words could. Putting his arms around me once more he repeated the words he had already said,

"I am sorry… you should not have had to go through all that…"

"It was not your fault… you could not help it."

We both jumped when the door opened, and we both shot apart, Lynceus did not even look worried, he, I thought, almost wanted to get caught in my rooms. I hit his shoulder,

"Hide then you fool." He wandered off into the shadows somewhere but it was too late.

"Well… well… well… is this a party girl, because if it is why was I not invited?"

"I do not know what you are talking about Celcy, I just got up to… get some water…"

She laughed at me, "Girl do I look like a fool? For all that Eros, that pitiful excuse for a God, calls me an old crone, I have ears, and remember girly I was young once, do think that I was born old like this? Lynceus… boy if you are not gone and off that balcony in three minutes that I will set an alarm and tell everyone that you sneaked into the innocent young Princesses rooms at night then I will cut off your legs so you cannot sneak about Princesses bedrooms anymore… Nestra… Gods girl get back into bed before your maids come, now!"

Ignoring her he walked, bold as brass back into the room, kissed my cheek and then followed Celcy's instructions and left.

"Fool boy… he reminds me so much of his father… Nestra go onto the balcony and pick up that white scarf before everyone knows that you put it there so a certain boy can find out your rooms."

I obeyed her and jumped back into bed while she muttered on about youth and fools and stupid boys and girls. She spent the rest of the night next to me in the bed, not before telling me that if I got out of bed again, she would assume that I was a scoundrel like Lynceus and would then proceed to cut off my legs so that I could not wander about anymore.

I woke up smiling, the sun on my face, a gentle wind on my cheeks, I felt like a new person, so happy… I felt whole again. But I had things to do today, and I could not spend all day in bed mooning about last night or boys who deserved their legs cutting off.

I got dressed and ate, noticing that Celcy had stumbled back into her own rooms sometime in the early morning. Breathing in, I readied myself for what I was to do next. Do you remember before, when I told you that trying to persuade Danaus to do something was like trying to tell the sand not to be dry? Well that was what I had to do today, persuade him to give in, something he would never do, persuade him to let Lynceus and therefore Aegyptus win.

I walked to Danaus, walking into his rooms unannounced and unexpected. They were the rooms Pelasgus had had, and I can tell you now readers, that however gaudy, decadent, debauched and wasteful they had been then, with my father as Lord of them they were even more so. I pushed open the door only to hear him shout supposedly at me,

"Get out now and leave alone… you have done your job now go."

Bemused and not wanting to know what he had meant I stood in the doorway, until a girl, half clothed and crying ran out and pushed me to the ground. No, I did not want to know what he had meant, it would only make me despise him more than I did already.

I walked in and sat in a seat.

"What do you want?"

"Well… you may have heard that there is a large ship coming to port here in Argos, well… it is Lynceus and his forty-nine brothers, they have come here to marry us. They say that they will fight you and the Argive people if you do not let us marry."

"Well they can go and drown themselves on their boat for all I care, they will not get you. He will not win." Three guesses who 'he' was.

"Argos is already weak, people are starving as it is under your rule, Aegpytus' sons have brought soldiers, healthy men to fight and no doubt there are more on their way if not already here that will do so as well. You have a binding agreement and if you break it by not letting us marrying then even your own people will not stand by you. We cannot afford war here Danaus, it will cripple us."

"You think that I am just going to let that vermin over here to marry my daughters; never, over my dead body." He snarled at me, like an animal.

"You can die, so your dead body can be arranged, and what is the use of you having a country to be King over, when it will be nothing after Lynceus' men have taken over, we would have no chance of winning against them, it will ruin the country, kill people in fighting and then the people will die starving. You will have no country to be King over, even if you win and especially if you do not. I speak the truth and sense, listen Danaus… Listen…"

A new light shone in his eyes and I slowly backed away, towards the door just in case he went crazy again.

"Fine… I see that I have no choice… you tell that… devil that he can have you… him and his brother can have the lot of you… what use are you to me? You are all just rock weighing down my back."

Suspicious, why would he give in so easily, I had been expecting to have to ask him every day and take weeks persuading him, what had made him give in so quickly?

"You will let us get married?"

"Yes, I will let you get married, do what the bloody hell you want… what do I care, you are worthless…" He spat the words at me before shouting, "Now get out, get out now!"

What was the old man plotting and why had he given in so easily? Was it something to do with the eternal punishment that I knew my half-sisters and I, if I chose to do the wrong thing, would suffer? I worried about this, but thought that I had better not push it too far because then I would end up poisoned and on a boat to the next place my crazed father decided to visit.

I got out of his rooms quickly and ran back to Celcy,

"Celcy, can you bring a note to Lynceus?"

In the note I told him that Danaus had agreed to the marriage and there was no need for war. Celcy left, running away into the night, towards man that I would be marrying soon, how did that make me feel, about our marriage I mean, terrified! What if I was a dreadful wife? What would happen if the visions came true and I did have seven children, two of them twins? But on the other hand; what if… for the first time in my life I was happy with him?

My head feel like he had turned it to mush, I mean not only did I have to remember last night, but I also had to think about what was happening now, the future was now the present and I did not know how to deal with it. What would I do? How would I cope? Because, personally… I did not know what to think?

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 4000 words a go.


	31. Wedding Blues

A/N: Go and read my best friend's stories, 1madcat, especially 'if you are what you are not.'

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

(Sing to the tune of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town')

Lyn-ceus is back in town!

Lyn-ceus is back in town!

Lynceus is ba-ack in town!

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

Even though it was decided that we would be wed, or rather really, as it was in my lands, it was not marriage as you readers know it, it was a business deal where the ownership of a girl moved from her father to her husband, not marriage of the heart but of a marriage of possession, it still took a remarkably long time to get it moving. Despite the fact that Danaus had agreed, he would do all her could to delay things, not only would the ceremony and many traditions last for three days, but we would have to wait out the summer, the autumn and most of the winter until Gamelion came calling, Gamelion was the month most sacred and honoured for lovers to wed for it was the month belonging to Hera and meant, if you can believe it, 'the wedding month, to be married at this time was extremely good luck for the marriage and it was said that on this month especially Hera bestowed her blessings on the couple, in your time it would be January, the end of winter and beginning of spring, of new life and a second chance perfect for a marriage, and of course any wedding was meant to symbolise love, of course often never apparent in marriages between fifteen year old girls and thirty-something men, mutual respect, which was the second biggest lie ever spoken or written, equality, which was the biggest lie ever spoken or written, and sacrifice, when the only sacrifice was made by the bride which I will tell you about later.

I waited nervously throughout the time from summer to spring, not only did Celcy now go about calling me 'saucy minx' but she also did not trust me anymore and made it a habit to sleep in my room, she also drew her sword and threatened Lynceus with it on the few times he actually came to my room, the woman was a menace, a absolute menace! There were few times that we met without Celcy hitting or verbally abusing both myself or Lynceus, for a man that had been influenced more that was appropriate by Eros, he was not very stealthy when sneaking into a girl's bedchamber! It did not help I suppose that Celcy was such a light sleeper and I swear she thought I was turning into a cheap harlot, it was very worrying, very worrying indeed.

Not only did I have those problems but I was also troubled by even more dreams about children, more specifically, my children. I would wake in the morning, the sun on my face, the gentle wind blowing my hair, Celcy screaming obscenities at me about how lazy I was and my arms remembering holding a baby, my eyes recalling how eagerly in the visions I had drank up the sight of my children, memorising every curve of their faces, every wisp of hair and every shade of eyes colour that they had, my skin mesmerised by the feel of their soft cheeks as I held them close to me, their kisses and their love of me. I was confused and did not know what to do. In the end I made the mistake of telling my friends, the Gods, no I did not tell Celcy, she already thought I was crazy for not killing lynceus when I had the chance and every opportunity and even reason to do so she would think that I had well and truly lost my mind if I told her that I had been dreaming of children, my children. What a mistake I had made by telling Artemis and Eros, or really, what a mistake I had made by telling Eros! He thought it immensely amusing and spent the whole day laughing at me, Artemis thought it the sweetest thing she had ever heard and while she did not laugh at me, she spent the day begging me to tell her more about the children and she sighed and ohhed and ahhed and did not give me any help at all. In the end help came from the least likely of sources or rather really the most likely, Hera herself, Goddess of child birth and all things motherly and wife-like. I do suppose she was truly the one I should have asked in the beginning but I had a few resignations about asking her after what had happened the last time we had met. All she said to advise me was ask me bluntly and to the point as was her manner and nature, 'did it feel right, the children in your arms, laughing and talking with you?' There was a very simple answer to that, yes, it had felt perfect, the second question was 'if it felt right then why try and deny it and make it feel wrong then?' I took her advice and stopped worrying about becoming a mother, if push came to shove I could always kill myself… or them anyway and I was perfectly sure that Celcy and Artemis would always take my place if I wanted to run away. In my visions my children had been alive and happy so evidently I was not too bad a parent… hopefully, maybe I was more worried that I would be happy as a mother and wife than I was about being unhappy as one.

With the issue of children taken away from the burden that weighed down my back, all I had to worry about now was marrying Lynceus and what Danaus was planning that made him give in so easily to the marriage. The issue of marrying Lynceus was an old and very deep scar on my mind, what if he tried to run my life, or what if he thought that he could simply put me in a box or a room somewhere and ignore me until I had to be taken out of said box for parties and special occasions, what if he wanted to make me a puppet wife, some one who appeared important but really was ruled by another, her husband. Would I be able to tell him that I was independent and would lead my own life? I needed just one more question answering, and the only one who could do it was Eros, God of Love and all around joker and total immature child. Perfect!

So it was a month before the wedding and I was even more nervous than usual about the marriage so I decided that either I asked him and received the answer or I did not and I continued worrying about things that was ridiculous.

"Eros…" I whispered, maybe if I said it quietly, it would be as if I had not said it at all. "You know that day, when I first say Lynceus and his brothers, I was thirteen, and he was fifteen… you remember do you know not… can I ask you a question about it, please?"

He pretended to faint in horror, "Did you just say 'please'? Is the sky falling? Are you ill? Or have you finally gone insane?"

"I said please now just answer the question… please…"

"Yes… I remember that day very well… the day that I had to share you with another boy, I was quite jealous at first, but only in a brotherly way."

"I do not believe you… but the question I have to ask…" I paused, wondering how best to phrase it… "Did you truly hit us with an arrow or were you just joking when you told me that you had?" I said it quickly hoping that the shame of saying it would be gone quickly too.

He grinned at me, "Yes… I did, I sent your way the best arrow I could find Nestra, one that would give you eternal love and happiness, I saved my best arrow for only you sister."

Unsure whether to thank him or possibly dismember him he must have known the inner struggle inside of me about what I wanted to do to him and abruptly backed cautiously away from me.

"Your arrows can go wrong sometimes, do they not?"

"Only when I want them to go wrong and cause trouble, the bride's best friend falling for the groom, the groom falling for his bride's sister, that sort of trouble is the best sort of trouble, I do love mischief." His eyes gleamed.

"Well… as long as Lynceus does not fall in love with Gorgophone or Proteus with me, I suppose I can be satisfied with that answer."

He laughed and asked me to give him one good reason why he should not create a little… excitement at my wedding. I told him that I would tell Hera that it had been Eros, not Artemis who had hid all of Zeus' lightening bolts in the lake in Stymphalos, then I would laugh to watch Eros receive due punishment for Zeus' humiliation. Deciding that I was deadly serious he left me to ponder for a while.

Eventually I decided that I should be more worried about Danaus and his evil plans rather Lynceus and his possible evil future with me. I was more than the ordinary foolish girl who got married, I would not be a man's doormat, but I would be neither independent nor dependant if Danaus tried once more to poison me and I did not survive. I was… moderately relieved then when Danaus called, as tradition usually dictated for weddings where there was more than one bridegroom and more than one bride, to hold a race, the winner would take the first daughter, the second place son would take the second daughter, the third place son would take the third daughter and so on and so on. I was not worried; or rather I was not that worried, for Lynceus was very much fit and healthy and was not prepared to lose me to one of his brothers, besides all that, he wore a symbol of my favour, around his neck, my necklace and my ring, and that would show to the whole of the audience watching that he was truly mine and mine only. The race resulted in most of the brothers lined up by age really, a few brothers were swapped about but by the by the race had been pointless, just yet another foolish tradition to delay the inevitable. Lynceus won as predicted, and I grew slowly more and more secure in his love and more comfortable with him, after all, eight years changes you in more than just a few ways, I also grew more and more comfortable with the idea that slowly he was making me fall once more in love with him again, but that too was simply the inevitable for I had loved him once and I did not see why now I could not revive that feeling and once more love him again.

Slowly Gamelion approached and the subject of remind Danaus about clothes and the lengthy and costly preparations for said wedding was placed upon me. Yet again, he threw another problem into the mix and told us that not only did the wedding have to be in Gamelion but it also had to be during the time of a full moon, for you see, my people are married at night, after dark, with only the light of the stars in the heavens and the moon to guide us to our vows, the full moon is symbolic of a full life with the person who you will marry. Generally Danaus cares not one whit for tradition and customs, just look at how quickly he took the throne after Pelasgus' death, so why he suddenly cared now was a mystery.

As the days that would take over my wedding fast approached, the many feasts were planned and all of the other rituals, finally the day before the wedding came and with it, all of my previous nerves, apprehensions and worries that I had thought successfully banished came too. There was just one thing that I had to do before the feasting, partying and merry-making began, and it was something that I should not have been doing, against all tradition and customs, it would have shocked many people if they had known about it, it also had quite a lot to do with the sacrifice I had mentioned in the beginning. Technically all of my childhood toys, doll, clothing and other games and things from my youth were to be taken away and burned, to prove to everyone that I was no longer a child and was old enough and fit enough to marry. The only thing I had from my child-hood was my rag doll, lost so many years ago and given back to me by the Fates, it stayed in my bed all the times, it was with me when we travelled to Argos and I was determined that when I travelled back to Egypt, it would still be with me, besides that if I ever did happen to have children, I wanted to be able to give them that rag doll for them too to hold and hug when they were children, but only if I happened to have children, and it was a very big if at the moment. So… to keep it safe I gave it to Lynceus, as mostly unfairly the bride-groom did not have to sacrifice his child-hood toys, he looked at it as if he was wondering whether to laugh or to pretend that it was not there, in the end, he chose the right option, he ignored it, but only after I hit him in the stomach for laughing!

After saving the life of my rag-doll, I then went on to plan _The Bath_, it was not, as some of you may assume, a tin tub filled with water that you would wash in, it was yet another pointless pre-wedding tradition. A young child would walk in front of a procession to a special fountain called Callirhoe, it was made especially for weddings and never used for anything else even though ti looked exactly the same as every other fountain we passed on our journey to it, I had been expecting something rather more special, but no. Then, using a loutrophros, which is a double handled painted vase, decorated with images that wished good-luck to the couple, the child who was usually a girl, would fill it up from the fountain and would then walk back to the bride's home. I cannot tell you what exactly this custom symbolises for I fear it symbolises nothing at all, the walk to the fountain took hours and the child was literally wilting by the time that we got there and I, at the front of the procession, was very tempted to filled my hands from the fountain and throw water all over me. Sadly that would have shocked many people and gone against tradition and I cannot possibly do that, can I? When I was sure no one watched, I filled my hands with the sacred water and drank from Callirhoe instead! My only regret was that again, this foolish tradition was only for the bride, but fear not, at the feast after the wedding, I would watch as Lynceus and his brother danced the Pendozali, and that was something no one could watch and no laugh at, called the 'dance of five steps' it should have been called the 'dance of shuffling and ungainly feet,' every man who danced it ended up on the floor on their backsides. It was hilarious!

I exited the feast before the wedding, however, as soon as I could, not only was Lynceus and I not allowed to speak, look or communicate with each other, but the only thing that I was allowed to do was ignore him, so, as you can imagine with my drunken soon-to-be brothers and other 'friends' who had come to wish myself and my half-sisters well, there was no lack of shouting, fighting, aggression, and ribald and distasteful jokes there. I was glad to be away from the feast and even more pleased to find my friends waiting in my rooms for me when I finally got back.

That night, myself, Artemis, Celcy and Eros spent some quiet hours together before we slept, all four of us, in my bed. We all recognised that tomorrow, a lot of things would change, change for the better or change for the worse, I knew not and worst of all, it was still change so what did it matter whether it was good or bad? It did get a great deal more interesting, as many of you might understand, when certain… knowledge and skills were discussed that could be useful for the night after the wedding. I was… shall I say… moderately interested in what Eros was saying but let me tell you readers that Celcy was shocked out of all decorum and Aretims went as far to call Eros disgusting, filthy and sick-minded, I only wondered why it was now that she had discovered this, I mean, he had been like this for years! With that the conversation was untimely ended, I did considered waking Eros up in the middle of the night so we could continue it, but sadly as I have said before, Celcy is a very light sleeper, and she would have had full reason to call me a 'saucy minx' if I had done so!

Late in the afternoon the next day, all three of them woke me, jumping on me, screaming down my ears and shouting at me, pulling my hair and prodding, pinching and even tickling me, it was dreadful and that was not the best awakening I have ever had, it but me immediately into a bad mood, not to mention the doubtful feelings I had about this marriage.

The girls in my service, preparing the bath and the clothes made matters a good deal worse. Screaming, shouting, chattering on about love and how sweet it was and how beautiful the dress was and how radiant I looked this morning really did not improve my mood for some unknown reason. Trying tactfully not to insult me one of them withdrew a bottle of something from her skirts and asked if she might try to make my hair even more beautiful than it was at the moment, the potion made my head feel as if I had stuck it in a bucket of freezing cold water, but it made my hair straight for once, and I suppose that I could handle the cold head if it tamed my hair.

As I dressed myself, declining help off the servants, the sun began to set in the sky, I cursed, I was going to be late, for my own wedding! The white dress that I had on was simple, the hem brushed the floor and the sleeves covered my arms from shoulder to wrist. Yet another symbol, the dress was meant to reflect my purity, so I suppose that I could not walk into my wedding in something that was short in length and showed my arms, that would send a very wrong signal to Lynceus and it would give him ideas that I did not want him to have. Leaving my hair down, but threading through the wet tendrils of hair, little silver beads and chimes, I do suppose that when I looked into the mirror I did look rather presentable, all I know is that when I stepped out of my rooms to where Celcy, Artemis and Eros was waiting for me, all of them stopped talking and Celcy and Artemis cried to see me, whether that was good or bad I will let you decide, all Eros did was stare at me, I was rather insulted, you would have thought that they had never seen me dressed presentably before. I wore no make-up, nothing like that, my face was clean, silver bangles about my wrists echoed the noise the necklaces about my throat made, which echoed the noise of the bangles about my bare feet. Before I left, Celcy stopped me, touching my arm gently,

"Girl, look at you now, you have forgotten your veil, what do I have to do to get just a little sense of propriety into you, beat you?" With that and tears still slowly seeping down her face she picked up the light, thin, veil from the bed and covered my face with it, Lynceus would see my face for the first time as his wife only after the wedding.

With that I joined my half-sisters and Danaus as we prepared for the ceremony, Danaus was muttering various things to himself, mostly describing how villainous and disgraceful Aegyptus' sons were, but fear not, the only reason that man was rather more cross than usual was because during the ceremony he had make a pact with all fifty of the boys. I would not be able to give myself away, I would not even be able to make any vows between myself and Lynceus, I was only a girl remember and could not be trusted to do so, and instead Danaus would be doing it for me.

As we trailed outside, to the massive gardens that had been prepared for our marriage, we stood on one side and Lynceus and his brothers on the other side, with a long gap that once married Lynceus and I would walk down, in between. Being first born I would be first to wed and I stood up, head bowed down, eyes looking at the floor, the picture of demureness and bashfulness, as I followed Danaus to the front where Lynceus was waiting, sadly the gliding and floating part of following did not naturally come to me and I tripped over the hem and unfortunately shoved into Danaus. I felt as if instead of bread this afternoon I had eaten worms for my insides writhed within me, this was it, from this point onwards, everything would change. I touched my hands to my neck, just to make sure that Lynceus' ring still hung about my neck and that I had not lost it, never had I taken it off and doing so now felt very strange. With myself behind Danuas and Danaus facing Lynceus the Engyésis began, the betrothal. It was simply an oral bond that meant literally, 'the giving of a pledge into the hand.' Again I would not be participating in it, for I was just a girl, never mind that this was my marriage to Lynceus and not my father's.

"I give you this girl, my daughter, the one that I have loved and encouraged and protected," I very nearly but not quite snorted at hearing this. "So that you both may live together as man and wife," Here Danaus faltered, trying to avoid looking at Lynceus who was doing his best to try and kill him by glaring alone, when Danaus did happen to look up and catch Lynceus' eyes, he scowled and looked at him with loathing as if he was a clot of dirt of his feet. So far my wedding was going brilliantly. "In love, respect, equality you will grow and through sacrifice may you live happily together," Danaus definitely did not like saying that, he spat the words at Lynceus and looked as if he was preparing himself to chew rocks or eat lemons, "So she may bring many children into this world to honour your memories when you are gone." Here Danaus truly looked as if he was going to be sick, yes this wedding was going perfectly.

"I accept her, my wife, my companion, and the mother of my children, the only person who holds my soul and knows my heart." Lynceus spoke strongly and surely, a contrast to the weak and hesitant way Danaus had spoken my vows. With that Danaus turned to me and glared at me with such hatred I was more than a little surprised, it was not my fault that we were getting married, I had not made the agreement between Danaus and Aegyptus that promised my hand in marriage and it was not as if I had encouraged Lynceus, I had not, had I?

With that, Danaus grabbed my left hand, I yelped as he squeezed so hard I thought that he had broken a bone in my hand, thrusting it towards my husband he successfully avoided touching Lynceus' hand. Lynceus took my hand in his larger ones, with that he some how smoothed out all the fears I had about marrying him, and as I passed him the ring that had resided so long about my neck, I felt the warm gold band as he gently pushed it onto my finger, then as he lifted up my hand and bent his head and kissed the ring. I did the same to him, kissing the gold metal of his ring, then finally, with the rings on our fingers, a simple circle, the symbol of never ending love for remember, a circle has no start and no end, and neither, I think does love, we were married.

I saw his smile as we walked, hand in hand down the long, his long fingers wrapped around me and felt mine, reflecting it, our first steps as husband and wife, and they felt no different than walking with him when we were simply lovers had been. We stood at the back, as I gazed at the sky, the stars, the full moon, shining at me, watching as Gorgophone married then the next daughter and the one after that. I must say that Danaus was not quite as hateful with the other sons as he had been with Lynceus, I rather think that it was only because Lynceus was Althea's son and the others were not, that Danaus made the subtle distinction between hate and loathing.

Slowly my half-sisters gathered at the back of me and me and Lynceus were once again at the front. It was then that I realised, all the worrying I had done about things being changed, it had all been for nothing, because really, nothing had truly changed, yes I was his wife now and he was my husband, but I had not changed and neither had he changed, when I felt that he had done something wrong or inappropriate I would still hit him, and knowing him, Lynceus would still constantly smirk and laugh at me. Nothing really had changed except now, I was free of Danaus and I would, after eight long years, be going home, back to Egypt where I would live with Lynceus, I felt free, careless and happy, really happy. I had worried about nothing and felt like a fool, I laughed at myself, then chocked as I tried hard to stifle the laugh because, as custom dictated, Danaus now had to say a few words, and me laughing in between them just would not have been appropriate.

"With this I marry you, my daughters." His mouth twisted as if he had tasted something foul. "I pass your care and your lives out of my hands and into the protection of your husbands." He almost looked happy then saying that, finally the time when he would get rid of us and throw us off into someone else's care had come, he would be rid of the money-wasting, pointless, worthless females, finally. After saying those words he stalked out of my vision, off to sulk, brood and plot evil things I suppose. With that, many of my new brothers, bolder than the rest, kissed their wives, some stood there and looked shyly at them for the younger ones were only twelve years old, others talked, some stood there silent. Lynceus looked at me, trying to see through the veil.

"Are you really Hypermnestra?" He asked me with a grin.

I hit him around the head, "Does that answer your question?"

He scowled, "Did I really deserve that?"

"Well you did walk right into it by asking me if I was Hypermnestra, I simply proved that I was."

He shrugged and smiled at me, "You look nice, very nice, remind me again when I can take that damn veil off your face, I want to make sure that it was you that I married Nestra, and not one of your bloody awful sisters."

Since Lynceus' home was more than two years travel away, for the next few nights, his brothers and him would be staying here, in our rooms, rather than going back to their home immediately after the wedding. This kind, thoughtful idea that bee thought up by Danaus, and I have yet to discover his ulterior motive. I decided that I would have some fun with Lynceus.

"Well… we will be stopping here for about three days, maybe more or maybe less, then there is the two years of travel before we get back to Egypt, so I think that probably in about two years time when we arrive home and I am with you privately you can remove it."

The man actually believed me and groaned, "You are jesting with me are you not Nestra, because if you are not then I will throw traditions and custom out of the window and take that thing off tonight."

With the mention of tonight he raised an eyebrow, waiting for my reaction, I stared at the floor steadily, determined not to see the smirk on his face or to look at the glint coming into his eyes, if I did, I would catch the meaning behind the glint and the smirk and I would blush red so badly that scarlet would be my natural skin tone for many years.

"I trust…" He continued, on a mission to make me blush, "That Celcy will not be sleeping in your bed tonight, waiting to chop off my legs with her sword? Because that might pose a small problem."

"Celcy is sleeping in her set of rooms, on the opposite side to mine." With that I did blush, for you see I knew perfectly well why Celcy had moved from being in the rooms directly next to mine to rooms that were opposite and away from mine. I put all thoughts of why she changed rooms out of my mind and hit Lynceus again.

"Why did you do that?"

"Because you deserved it… you were asking me those things deliberately to embarrass me. You scoundrel, I am beginning to think that you are truly as bad as Celcy thinks you are."

"If…" He said bending down to whisper in my ear, "I told you that I was worse, would you believe me?"

I hit him again and ignored him as we walked back into the hall where we would have our feast tonight. I looked up at him and started, there, in front of my left eye, on top of him head was a pale white skull. My readers you all know what that means as well as I did, I froze, looking up into his eyes, seeing laughter vanish to pave the way for concern.

"Are you alright Nestra, what is wrong?"

He was going to die, my visions always come true, even times when I hoped so much that they would be false, that I could stop them from happening, they always came true. Lynceus could not die, not now after he had just become my husband, how could I afford to lose him again? Simple answer, I just could not.

"Lynceus…" I began, looking around to see death skulls on every one of Aegyptus' sons, Gods! What was Danus planning that would kill all fifty of my new brothers, could I somehow stop it? Gods, how I hoped I could. "What ever you do, do not eat or drink anything at the feast, stay close to me all the time," Quickly I checked myself in the mirror in a false display of vanity, there was no skull on top of my head, I would not die this night, "And most importantly of all, please… keep yourself safe from harm… be careful… husband."

I watched as he frowned, understanding that I was warning him about danger, then as his eyes lit up as I called him 'husband.'

"Whatever you say… wife… you are wiser than I am so I will submit to your infinite and endless knowledge." I pinched his arm gently to let him know that I did not like his sarcasm or tone, but only gently, how could I hurt him too much after being called 'wife'? I did not like at all the way my heart felt after he called me it, maybe I was turning soft? Hummm… if I was turning soft, could you honestly blame me readers?

With that we walked into the room together, fifty pairs of married couples, I felt a little better after warning him was I still kept a careful look out for hidden dangers. We danced, we laughed and we talked for a while, the darkness growing deeper as I relaxed and began to think that maybe, just maybe I had been wrong, that there was no danger, fool that I am, I believed the danger past. When the time drew near to us leaving and going our separate ways for the night, one voice broke through the stillness of the quiet chatter filling the rooms as wife got to know husband and husband wife.

"Daughters, I wish to speak with you a moment." Danaus rasped at us then following that he said clearly, "Alone." With that fifty drops of blood graced hall, on the foreheads of Danaus and his forty-nine daughters, I was horrified and looked once again in the mirror to see that upon my forehead was the very same drop of blood, marring my skin and staining me. Tonight, I would kill… those drops of blood and the deaths of my husband and brothers was no coincidence, in life there was no coincidence only fate and destiny, I would kill my husband tonight… that thought froze my blood, my heart, my mind and my very soul… Lynceus would die… by my hands… how… why… why would I kill the one person I loved?

My questions were soon answered as the men piled out of the room, leaving it surprisingly empty, with myself, my half-sisters and Danaus there. Revealing the bag he had hidden behind a table, Danais took out a small, jewelled dagger, giving one to each of us, he smiled sadistically. I took hold of it and felt it as it burned my hands, I dropped it to the floor and the noise echoed it that room, it was eerie.

"My daughters… this night will be the night that you will for once make me proud. Your husbands are bad men, they are evil, devils the lot of them… they will rape you… violate you, rip you apart… you will bleed and they will laugh at you… you will beg for mercy and they will harden their hearts against you… you will cry out and they will ignore you…" His voice, so loud now in this room, so strong suddenly, filled with life at the prospect of annihilating Aegyptus' line, his beloved sons. "Tears will run down your faces through pain… through misery… tears will run down their hard cheeks as they laugh 'till they cry… your pain will be their pleasure… your soft bodies at thing for them to destroy… your hearts just another thing to rip out of your chest and obliterate." Hypnotising and mesmerising he spun the story of the cruel ways in which Lynceus, the most gentle and patient man I had ever met would violate me again and again, the room was silent, all eyes on him, the worst of it was that I too was listening in horror, he believed all that he said too which made what he was saying more awful.

"So daughters, before they do these unspeakable things to you… take this dagger that I have given you, take it and with it, stab these creatures, stab them and kill them, so that they will never hurt you, my girls… kill them and end this evil… this madness… kill the demon inside of them… kill them… kill them."

I almost felt myself wanting to agree to kill him, I looked around and saw them, my half-sisters caught in Danaus' spell, nodding, agreeing to kill their husbands… Gods, I prayed, Gods please, make them see sense… make them see the lies in Danaus' web of deceit… help them to see… protect Aegyptus' sons… protect us…

Unable to stand there and watch Danaus as he poisoned and primed my half-sister for murder, I walked up to the highered platform where he stood… taking no care to speak softly or persuasively I shouted at the whole of them, deluded fools tat they were, I spoke bluntly and sharply, wanting to wake them from the reverie that had them in it's thrall, I pointed at one of them, any of them, just one girls out of forty-nine that would become a murderer tonight if I did nothing to prevent it.

"Death comes now to you

And all the other forty-eight.

Share the same blood and the same fate.

Stand afraid,

In front of Hell's gates.

Tricked and cursed

Forever you'll wait.

No rest or respite,

For all of eternity you must pay the price."

That seemed to have worked a little, the younger ones gasped; the older ones looked visibly shaken. I continued,

"If you kill these men, your husbands then you will be cursed, you will go to hell and forever you will stay there, I have seen it, I know the horrors there, you will have no rest, no hope, nothing but work, you will be hungry, but never need food, thirsty, but the damned have no need of water, you will be cold, but warmth will be denied you, inside you will hurt but nothing will ease that pain. Imagine… an eternity forever in Hell, all of you if you kill these men." I screamed at them, very hysterical and crazed, "Why listen to that man, he cares not for us, he has never loved us, never helped us, what has he ever done for us? What should he now ask us to do this for him when he has done nothing for us for the whole of our lives? Do not do… please." The last sentence whispered, as they looked at me in horror now as if I was mad, they thought that I had now finally gone insane, they did not believe and they would not do as I said.

"She is crazy… she thinks that she has just cursed us." Gorgophone led the riot as they twisted my words and made it seems as if I too was a demon, insane, mad and crazed, as if I had cursed them. They shouted against me. Danaus cried out.

"Get her out of here and away from us… out now!" He spat at us, as they grabbed hold of my arms and pulled me out of the room. I screamed.

"Listen to me, just one of you… listen… do not kill them… you will be cursed… do not kill them…please… do not kill them." Hysterically I did what I had never done before, I begged them.

They opened the doors and threw me out, inside I felt horror, they were not listening. Brandishing the dagger Danaus had given me, I spoke now to the boys, to my uncle's sons, his pride and joy, I could not let them die. At least, I thought to myself, looking for Lynceus, he no longer had a skull above his head, I could not kill him. Inside I sighed with relief, but still… I must not let my brothers die.

"Listen to me and heed well my words… look what Danaus has given us…" I showed them my dagger, "With it Danaus mean us to kill you, our husbands, with it, we are to stab you through your hearts, take heed my brothers, take heed and beware for if you surely will die this night if you do not. They will kill you… please… do not let that happen to you… please."

I looked around, searching for a face that believed me, but I found none, they were incredulous and disbelieving, none of them believed me… why did no one believe me? Then I knew, as one of them looked at his wife, I saw the look he gave her, the man could not believe his delicate, beautiful wife could ever manage to pick up the dagger let alone stab them with it, it was impossible for them to think of a woman as anything but the stereotype of a caring, beautiful, frightened little girl. Why were they so foolish, I repeated my words more than once, frantically, searching for Lynceus, surely he would believe me… he had to believe me, if he did not believe me then none of them would. I saw his face; he was worried about me but yes! He believed me; concern for his brothers was evident in his features.

"I am so sorry for my eldest daughter, sometimes she can be a little… unwell and quite strange… care not, for she has episodes like this frequently, she was ill some time ago and her mind has been addled ever since." My father spoke up; humiliating and making me seem a mad crazy woman. "Who ever is unfortunate enough to be her husband would he please remove her from the room, she is distressing her sisters with her lies."

Lynceus stepped forward, as I screamed with frustration at this madness, what was wrong with them, why could they not see sense, were they bewitched? What had Danaus done to them? Gently, he picked me up as I collapsed against him and carried me out of the room, all the way out of the main buildings he held me, only putting me down when I protested that my legs were perfectly alright and I could walk. In contemplative silence we walked back to my rooms.

"I warned them, what more could I do?" My voice broke the cold.

"Nothing, my brothers are intelligent, they will be wary. Maybe you scared your sisters so much that they will not try to kill them now."

I did not say what I wanted to, that his brothers were clouded by beauty and infatuation. I did not say that such clouding could stop any sense the boys had at all. I did not say that nothing could stop my half-sisters, or Danaus. What more could I do? What was to become of us? What was I to do, what could I do? Despair filled me, as I wondered how many of my brothers would die tonight at my half-sisters' hands. Gods!

He slumped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him, very possessive I thought to myself, another time and another place ago I would have been insulted, I would have said something to him, but all I said was exactly what I had thought, that he was getting very possessive. He smiled at me, and said,

"You are my wife, look at the ring on your finger; I can afford to be possessive, besides, I am glad that it is no longer around your neck, hidden, you are truly mine now…"

I raised an eyebrow and pinched his arm, stopping him when he would have continued and walked himself even further into hot water with me… "That is to say," He said cautiously, "Look, I wear a ring too… I am yours for all eternity wife."

"Well…" I muttered, "Just you remember that."

We walked in an air of quiet calm, but I was nothing but calm inside, I was worried and scared, what would happen to me? What would happen to my husband, and to his brothers, now my own brothers? The worries ate at me and I chewed my bottom lip nervously, what more could I do? What should I have done to help readers? Responsibilities crashed down on my and the guilt that I should have done something, I should have but why had I not? What more could I have done I wanted to cry, what more could I have done?

7, 444 words! Scream! Will they kill or won't they? Going to leave you at a little cliffie, review and I will update soon. What will happen to Nestra, what will happen to Lynceus? What will happen to her half-sisters and his brothers? Only time and my next update will tell! Au revoir, I am mad!

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 4000 words a go.


	32. Runaway Bride and Groom

A/N: Go and read my best friend's stories, 1madcat, especially 'if you are what you are not.'

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

I told you that previously I had been biting my bottom lip in worries for my brothers, their deaths scared me even if, admittedly, not so much as the prospect of Lynceus dying had, but now that fear was overshadowed, not totally displaced, but pushed to a small corner of my mind where more… pressing things that were happening now could take over and plague me. I was fool enough to believe that my screaming and hysterics would have shocked my half-sisters enough that they would not think twice about picking up that deadly dagger, let alone plunging into Lynceus' brothers, who in all honesty rather deserved to be stabbed in return for their blindness, fool that I was I believed that I could push my worries aside and ignore them, then in the morning, when I woke, they would have vanished away to nothing, fool that I was… such a fool…

Pushing away those cares meant that new ones took their places. My eyes, frantically looking about saw the fish ponds and we were nearly at my door. My worries were of tonight, and how much I would disappoint this time, I was chewing my lip so much that I must have resembled a rabbit. I breathed in and out, and counted to ten and then backwards to one. I would not panic or worry I chanted in my mind, I would not panic or worry, I would remember to breathe out after breathing in, I would not panic. Now was really not the best time to wish that I had woken up Eros and asked him more about what he had been talking of last night, maybe it would have made me feel worse, but I still regretted not asking him!

Lynceus was quite obvious oblivious to my fears, when we approached the door, I grew so scared that I attempted to chew the nail off my thumb before realising that my finger nails were as hard as rock due to some sort of shiny polish that had been placed on them last night. I scowled and cursed myself, what was I doing, worrying about this? Had I well and truly, totally lost my mind? How many times had I sworn to myself that I would not worry like this about any man since they were simply just not worth the hassle? A small voice that I took an instant dislike to in my mind whispered back a reply, 'how many times have you broken that very rule?' No I definitely did not like that small, insignificant voice.

Cutting through the mass confusion and worry that at this moment happened to be my mind, his voice rang out, clear and loud, 'calm down before you have an attack of the heart.' I nearly died in horror, could he hear what I was worrying about? What had I been thinking, oh dear, something I most certainly should not have been thinking and something he should definitely not have heard! 'Do that again,' I hissed back into his mind at him, 'and I will give you a headache that feels like a big, heavy, wooden chest had just been dropped on your head.' Instead of responding to my threats he placed his hands inside the veil that currently hid my face from the world, that id my troubled face from him, long finger touching my skin, feeling every furrow, every curve of my nose, cheeks, eyes lids and eyes brows, and my lips, smoothing away frowns and the wrinkles caused by them.

"Relax," He whispered into my ear, "Relax."

As I opened my door it took all I had not to reach out and throw the first thing I touched at the wretched man, 'relax!' How could I? I had a good mind to give him 'relax!' So… I did just that, picking up as ornate wooden carving that too late I realised what it was, and unknowing I threw it at Lynceus' head. Then my heart sank and I mentally slapped myself. It was the wooden carving of my son and I that The Fates had given to me, not only would Lynceus see it, but if it got broken I would never forgive myself. It missed his head by inches as he dunked out of the way, seeing my stricken face he reached out and caught it for me, twirling it around long fingers, examining it from every angle. I cursed under my breath again; he would recognise me and ask who the boy was.

"Wherever did you get it?" He asked me, eyes solemn, did he know that he was looking at his son, years from now. Did he even dream who that little boy was?

"Three old women read out a fortune for me and gave me it." It was not quite a lie, but I was not going to mention the vision or the little boy, maybe he would forget and think that it was not me after all and that it had nothing to do with me.

Placing it back down on the side that I had snatched it from and walking past me he whispered.

"Secrets are bad for any relationship, let along ours." He paused looking back wistfully at the carving; he spoke again, "Our son looks remarkable like you." My heart fell straight through my chest and into my stomach, and feeling sad for some reason, I called after him,

"He looks more like you really."

With that simple statement he turned around and smiled at me, happy again for the confirmation that I had given him. I, however, was anything but happy.

Pulling something out of his long white robes as if he was a magician, Lynceus took hold of my doll that really should have been sacrificed I suppose and put it on a chair in my room. Looking at the room he had walked into, I gulped, oh dear, I thought, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. I mentally ran through every swear word, every curse I knew, said them backwards, forwards, and in as many different languages that I knew. From his place, lying as if he had not one care in the world, on my bed, he turned to me to say in an extremely amused tone,

"You need your mouth washing out; I do not think I can believe the words that have only just this moment come out of your mouth."

Damn, I had spoken out loud when I had wanted to whispered in my mind. This was really not going wall for me and he knew that and exploited that fact. I ignored him as much as I could with all the panic and worry signals going off in my mind from the sight of him, lying on my bed, no… I thought once again, this was truly, definitely not going at all well for me.

I felt his eyes on me, following me about the room as I tried to keep myself busy and away from that bed. I tidied up things that needed not my attention, moved things about to make mess for me to clear up, and I glanced out of the windows, begging the moon and all the shining stars to vanish and the sun to rise, knowing that whether or not it was night or day, it would make absolutely no difference either way.

Having nothing to do I stared out of the window, Lynceus was still watching me, like a cat watches a juicy mouse that is to be it's next meal, I was the mouse and I did not like feeling like one at all. He looked as if he was going to start laughing at me any moment, why was he finding me so damn amusing? Realising that I was still in my wedding dress, I wandered around the room, delaying things to grab a night robe out of my chest of clothes, it was long, very modest, baggy, and very thick, not at all like the one I had been wearing in the summer when Lynceus had returned to me.

"Take all the time in the world; we have tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night, and even the day after tomorrow. By the way… which night robe are you wearing tonight?"

Repeatedly walking about this room had built up a very nervous, panicky frenzy inside of me and that horrible man that I was now married to and who I had to spent my whole life with was really not helping with his ambiguous innuendos and insinuations. With that in mind, I am sure you will all understand why I picked a stool and threw it as hard as I could at the bed. This time, not expecting a flying stool heading straight for his head the crash and the following bang told me that he not had been unsuccessful in avoiding the piece of furniture and had been hit hard by said stool, he had also fallen off my bed too. This made me smile to myself and I laughed quietly in my bathing room, until I realised that I was, and forgive me this ridiculous folly my readers, hiding in my bathing room because of Lynceus!

First I took off my silver bangles, precious to me because the were the only thing that I had left that my mother had owned and treasured, I placed them on the floor with a soft click, taking cares to remind myself not to tread on them. Taking off the necklace carefully too, the three circles unnaturally warm to the touch, my finger traced the words and scowled at them, I was determined that I would draw out this process as much as possible. I looked around the room, my big tin bath in the corner and a small pot that my servants emptied every day, except for this one, because from no onwards until I left for Egypt, no one would enter my rooms and Lynceus and I would leave only to get food or other necessities.

I pulled the dress over my head and folded it up, my wedding dress, Gods how I had hoped and prayed that this day would never come, look where those prayers and hopes have left me, in my bathing-room, hiding from my husband who was very presumptuously and rudely occupying my bed! What was I to do, because I truly had not the faintest notion?

Slipping over my head the night-robe, I smoothed off all the creases and sat on the floor with my back against the wall, taking care to breathe carefully in and then out. You may ask me what precisely was I was worried about and you can tell me that I was acting more like a girl of sixteen years instead of a woman of six and twenty, but I could not help it. Think for a second of how you would have felt in my position if you were me, no man except for Lynceus had ever loved me, ever held me in his arms, ever kissed me, ever ran his hands, his fingers, across my face. In fact no man had ever touched me except for him, not really. Whereas I knew that I could not say the same thing for Lynceus. Ten years he had been without women for me, what happened if after this night all he thought was that it had not been worth it, that I had not been worth it? I had never wished to be like my more experienced half-sisters until now, now… I so badly wanted to have been more like them, at least in this sort of situation I would have known how to behave, how to act around him.

Coming to my senses with more than one sharp slap across my cheeks, I told myself that I was an idiot, a fool, a mindless girl who had lost her senses over a boy who would laugh if he ever came in here and saw the internal struggle inside of me. What did it matter anyway, he was my husband now and he knew that I would kill him if he so much as thought up another annoying, irritating innuendo about tonight. But deep down I knew that I did care about what he thought, and I knew that I was a foolish, silly stupid girl for doing so. Realising that I must have been hiding in this room for more than half and hour, I opened the door and stuck my head out cautiously, just in case the stool was heading towards me in revenge, I stepped out and scowled, the damned man was still lying on my bed, did the man have any idea of what propriety and decentness meant? Grinning to myself as I scanned the room; watching him out of the corner of my eyes as he watched me. My wedding robe in my arms and the jewellery on top of the clothes, once more wasting time and wandering about the room I put away my things and then, smiling sweetly at Lynceus, I placed myself in a chair, opposite and as far away from the bed as possible. The stool, I noted with satisfaction had been thrown against the wall in anger and left there, and Lynceus was no longer wearing that smug expression on his face that announced to the whole world that he was extremely pleased with himself. Very satisfied with that result I leaned back happily in the chair, I was not moving from this place tonight, no way was I moving or being moved.

"Could you possibly tell me why…?" He said in a tense, clipped voice, "Why you are so scared of me that you hid in the bathing room for an age, you are sitting as far away from me as possible; you wandered around the room doing nothing to avoid looking and talking to me and you look as if you have seen a ghost? What have I done to you to make me so terrifying to you?" He was rapidly getting very mad at me, his eyes going that tell-tale dangerous looking grey. Very angry at me he was at the moment, but I was mad at him too. I decided that I could not be bothered any more to play games with him, it could not get much worse and besides, in games like this I always lost, I would just tell him the truth, or at least as much of the truth as I wanted to tell him, for some reason, I just felt incredibly weary and old, playing foolish silly games meant for another girl, a younger and less jaded person than I.

Looking at my feet, drowning in a sea of shame, I was totally humiliated and could not believe that I was going to tell him what I was feeling. Quietly, I began to think quickly of the best way to put how I felt about this night. "I am not… like my half-sisters… I know not how to act in this sort of… situation. You are the only man I have ever kissed, and if that is not pathetic by my half-sisters standards I know not what else is. Pausing he looked as if he was going to interrupt me, but I cut him off by a sharp hand gesture and by continuing on, baring out my soul to any one who could just come along and take it. "Ten years you will have waited for me, what happens if after tonight…" Solidly I stared at my feet, ignoring the red creeping up over my cheeks, "You decide that the wait was obviously not worth it."

Believe it or not, after pouring out my heart to that horrid, wretched, damnable man, all he did in return was to laugh at me, sitting there on that bed, my bed, he grinned and then burst out laughing. My hands itched to throw something else at him and see if he still laughed with a lump the size of… my chair maybe on his head, would he find it still so funny, I wonder? Luckily for him, before I gave in to my murderous impulses he spoke to me, as quietly as I had spoken to him, but calmer and more controlled that I had been in my mad rush of words and thoughts and feelings.

"For some one as clever as you, love, you have some truly strange and foolish notions about that head of yours. Firstly," He said, finally moving off my bed, which made me relax a little, he knelt at my feet and held my face in his hands. "If I had wanted a wife who was foolish, vain and as much a flirt as your sisters are, I would have walked myself straight into a bar or an inn and engaged the services of a common bar maid." I truly did glow crimson after he said that and I kicked him for telling me such vulgar things, honestly, the man was incorrigible. "As it is I thank the Gods that I was born first and that you are my wife and also that I saw you so many years ago and got the chance to get to know you. Nestra… I do not want you to be like your half-sisters, they are common, you are exceptional, I would not love you half as much as I do if you had been even the slightest bit like them. Secondly… how do I put this…" He mused for a few seconds, looking thoughtfully beyond this room, "I love you for who you are and nothing that does or does not happen tonight will change that. Understand me?"

Smiling inside and out, I nodded, and with that nod of my head Lynceus took off my veil. I watched as he placed it with my wedding dress and then came back to me. I bent forward and placed a soft kiss onto the top of his head.

"Oh so it is you Nestra, I had been worrying."

Touching the back of his head I said with an evil smile, "You know how much that stool hurt, this chair will hurt even more if I decide to throw this too at you."

He scowled and backed away from me, just in case. I drew my legs up to the chair and curled them around and underneath me, I yawned and rested my head back onto the back of the chair and closed my eyes slightly. It was very late and I was getting to be very tired.

"Come here…" Scooping me up into his arms he carried me out of the chair, well… maybe I would let him move me from it, just this once, "Just sleep tonight, Princess."

Inside I loved each one of those endearments he spoke to me, but you would never catch me telling him or letting him know that! "Are you sure?" I said failing to stifle another yawn.

"I have been waiting for you my whole life; I think that I can wait for a few hours more."

I smiled at him, a warm glow spreading through my heart, through my chest, warming my soul and lightening up my face; the same feeling I had felt when The Fates had put me into Lynceus' body. Love… oh dear… oh dear…. oh dear… what was I going to do? Did I really love him? Oh dear, the answer to that is maybe… possibly… probably… definitely, oh dear… I did love him. Now… did I tell him that or not? What should I do? Eventually that question was turned into 'what should I have done?' For, leaning over and whispering into his ear, I said it!

"Have I told that I love you?"

"No, but you have now and you cannot take it back." He grinned at me.

"Okay." I grinned back.

He dropped me down onto the bed and flopped back next to me. Since Greer had died I had never felt safe sleeping here on my own, which was why I had tolerated Clecy sleeping here with me when I could have told her to go and she would have done. Now, with Lycneus next to me, I felt safe once more, and it almost, numbed the pain of Greer's death, almost, but not quite numbed it. Sleep came quickly and easily to me, but it was not the only thing that came. The gift from the Gods that some may call my visions, those cursed things came and dragged me away from my room, away from Lynceus, away from my bed, and on my wedding night too, Gods, could I have not one night of rest? They unceremoniously dumped me back down into my room, my bed and right back next to my husband who I hoped was sleeping and would not wake and find me held in the thrall of yet another vision sure o be something that I wished not to see.

I opened my eyes and turned to look out of the window, it was the afternoon at the very least, bird singing and making themselves heard, all of the noisy silence of a drowsy, long, languorous, sleepy day, the sky was as blue as many of the flowers that it looked down on and the sun was blinding me as my eyes fluttered slowly open, I turned to get away from the white hot glare that even a cool wind, that teased and played with the drapes at the window, could not subdue and found Lynceus at the other side of me. I smiled secretly to myself and, in an act of affection that I cannot explain or deny, not even to you dear readers, an act that was totally out of character for me, I placed a small kiss on his shoulder and with a smile and a sigh, I would have slept on. I did not sleep and dream on though, not in the least for at that moment my door opened. Remember readers what I had said, that no one entered the bride and groom's room after the wedding day until permission to do so if given. I was shocked, no one should be coming into my bed-chamber, and even in normal circumstances it would have been scandal and frowned upon, now it was the utmost insult and affront to hundreds and hundreds of years of tradition, not to mention my own privacy and reputation. It was not Celcy, she would not dare, so who was it that had the gall and he audfacity to simply just march into my bed-chamber? Who dared? Shocked turned to horror which in it's turn changed to fury and white-hot anger as a man came in. A man most would have recognised as my father, as the King, as a demon… Danaus.

I got up out of the bed quickly, but taking the care not to wake up Lynceus, Sleep, the great and eternal mother had smoothed out harsher planes and contours of his face, leaving him with a innocent younger look to his eyes and mouth that I remembered from years ago, my thirteenth birthday, how time had played and altered us, yet still we retain some of who we used to be in gentle Sleep, she at least never forgot our youth. My eyes left Lynceus and casually passed over the dagger lying on the chest next to the bed. Just for a second I turned my back on him as I reached out and grabbed it.

"Get out of my room now! What on Zeus' sweet Earth do you think you are doing in here? Get out! Are you mad? Get out now!" I ordered him out, incensed as he walked around the bed to Lycneus, lifting up his head, watching his eyes flicker open, going from peace to hell in a matter of seconds as he woke.

"You did not kill him… you stupid whore… I will just have to do it for you… traitor.!

As he spoke, coldly, dispassionately, as if discussing what to eat for dinner, from out of his robes he produced a sword. Brandishing the dagger, looking every inch the fool that I felt, I moved around the bed to stand in front of Lynceus whose head Danaus still held, again I was to protect the man with my life, again it was I who would try to save him, and not the other, more traditional and certainly more stereotypical version of him protecting me. It was almost laughable if it had not been my life that hung on by a thread, a mere thread that The Fates could chose to cut or save as they wished, my life… my husbands life… the only person I have ever loved's life… and therefore the lives of my unborn and unknown children.

"You will have to kill me first Danaus." I warned him.

"Fine." Was his reply and with that and nothing else, not even a word of apology for my life, a sign he was sorry for the way he had had m brought up, not even something to show that I was his daughter, that he had ever been my father in anything but name alone, he pushed the sword through me. I screamed with pain at first and sliced through his face with the blade of the dagger he had meant me to kill Lynceus with. Blood sprayed out from his skin as blood pooled around my chest, the pain died away as fast as it had come and coldness grew there, just coldness, but the pain soon returned as he viscously wrenched the sword out of my chest as I fell straight down to the floor, but I knew that if I did not get up and do something, Lynceus would die and I could not let that happen, but I could do nothing to stop it from happening as I could not rise up. Truly it was at that point I died, as I listened to my husband as my father murdered him, for how could I live when the person who I loved was gone, it would have been like living as half a person, and we all know how much of an impossibility leading half a life is, it should be all or nothing, never only a part. The coldness spread all over, there was no pain, but why did I feel so tired, so damn weary and old? I fought against Sleep, knowing that if I ever gave in to her then I would never wake from her fatal touch. I watched as Danaus left, his sword dripping a trail out of my bed-chamber, the very same path Lynceus and I had used to enter it last night, more blood fell from that sword than what it had claimed form me surely, it was soaked in the blood of more than one person, the same blood that flowed whole and healthy through the veins of our killer. I relaxed into the wooden floor, we would both die here, I closed my eyes then tried to open them, I could not die without seeing if Lynceus was dead too, I did not want to stop fighting until I knew for sure that he was gone, then and only then would I finally give up my fight and surrender to Death.

"Lynceus… husband…" I called out quietly, not having the strength to speak, wanting to fall softly asleep and be free for once of all my burdens, why was I so damn cold? "Lynceus… I loved you… remember that… I… loved you…"

Without hope I waited for an answer, anything that told me he was still alive. Again I tried, last time, I promised myself tiredly, last time.

"Remember Lynceus… remember that I did love you…" One lone tear slipped out of eye lids that had no energy to force out more.

"I know…" the silence after that was so long and so loud I thought that in my need I had imagined it, till he spoke again, breathing loudly in the quiet and harshly. "I loved you too… always..."

With a whispered goodbye he spoke no more and because, however much I strained and prayed, I could no loner hear his heavy and tortured breathing, I gave way to Sleep as she ran her kind hands over my eyes and closed and her partner, Death, as they stopped my breathing. My head fell backwards and with that only darkness was left for me, there not a God of Death this time, telling me to live and not die, Hades would take my soul this time, and I would die for real. I screamed in terror trying to wake myself up from this nightmare, again I screamed over and over again, almost convinced I was truly dead and gone. If I had to bare and lock the door and block all the windows so that no one could get out or in, I would do so and we would starve together, but it was better than being stabbed.

Eyes shooting wide open, eternally thankful that I was not still in my vision, that I was not dead, it took a good while for me to get back to normal, if you could ever have called me that. I turned worried eyes to the window, immensely relieved to find that it was still dark outside. Now I concentrated on me, I was having something that resembled a panic attack, breathing was hard and I had to remember to breathe in and then out and not wheeze. Gasping and spluttering seemed to be about the extend of what I was capable of at that moment. Thankfully, Lynceus had not slept through the vision, for if he had, what followed afterwards would not have happened. I was in his arms, with him stroking my hair and whispering soft things to me, upon seeing that I was awake and coherent he released his hold on me, I got up when truly all I wanted to do was sit back down and cry, shakily I made my way over to the corner of the room where there was a pitcher of water, I drank out of it and returned back to the bed.

"Another faint?" He said sarcastically, worried not that I was once more myself.

"No… promise me that you would believe me if I told you what it was, promise me that you would not think that I was a liar. Promise me."

He promised and I told him everything that previously had been my secrets, everything that I had ever kept from him I spilled out. The visions I had once said were Artemis', I now claimed as my own, and those that I had not told him of, me pregnant and in a bed with him in it, The Fates putting me into his body to show me how to love. It was at that point that I got the wooden carving, the rag doll and then I walked over to a small box and withdrew the very necklace that I had worn this afternoon for our wedding. I showed him the small discs: 'see through another's eyes,' 'feel through another's skin,' 'love through another's heart.' I told him of Pelasgus, Greer, their visions, even Psyche and her prophecy, my half-sisters and their prophecy. Then… as if confessing to a priest who would then absolve me of my sins, I told him about our children, he drank up every last detail, however minute or large, greedily, he was fascinated with them and they had not even been born. Finally we reached the last vision… our deaths.

"What can we do?" He asked me as if I would know the answer, as if I was not terrified and afraid for the both of us. I would not lose him again… I could not.

"The vision happened here, simply, if we are not here then it will not happen, we have to escape. The palace and city gates will be open so all of the wedding guests can leave easily and quickly; it should be simple this time."

"We have to go now then." I nodded and got to work, Lynceus had not done this before, I had… and I knew the mistakes that I had made before and I knew how I would avoid making them this time.

We were a flurry of movement, getting dressed in old clothes taken from the servant's laundry, just in case a situation like this ever came up; now I praised my second sight, thank the Gods! Pushing chests and the bed in front of the only door to slow down Danaus, he would have to chop down the door to get it and that would delay things very nicely and buy a good chunk of time. We escaped out of the window, climbing down the trellises stuck to the wall and covered in curling vines, me with a thick plait in my hair, Lynceus with a simple thing that resembled a toga but was not quite one, whatever it was it left his chest bare and that in itself was disturbing me, from his smirk, the wretched man knew it, I should have left him in the room to face Danaus!

On our bags a small pack holding some food, a change of clothing and all the money that I had in the world, I also brought with me the wooden carving, the rag doll and the necklace, bangles and my veil and wedding dress. Useless, sentimental items that weighed down my pack I knew, but I needed to have them near to me and I would not run the risk of them being destroyed by Danaus, they were precious to me readers, and I found that I could not leave them behind.

Hand in hand, our rings about my neck, hidden by the baggy robe I wore; hidden once more, we walked out the gates with surprising ease. No one questioned us, we were simply poor peasants who had come to watch their Princesses marry and pretend that we were them. Joining the masses of people, come with reasons just like us, to watch the marriage and then to go and get drunk under the act of celebrating. Neither of us stood out as different and when we finally got to an inn or someplace to stay, there would be hundreds of couples doing the same as us so even then we would not stand out. I whispered a quiet thanks to the Gods when the Palace and the Inner City were soon a good distance away, on the horizon. Still though we could not tarry long here and still hand in hand we ran, as fast as we could.

We passed many different landscapes, dry ground, grass, then as we came nearer to the towns and away from the smaller villages, trees, bushes and more greenery grew and hindered our escape. My hair caught in branches that were curious, twirling it around and around, my arms and legs covered in scratches that were quite deep, due to the brambles and twigs. My bare feet becoming a bloody, painful mess, pain was something I could manage, I just pushing away to one side and told myself that it was not there. Still… we could not stop; it was not even an option until we got further away from the city. Breathing heavily we paused for a few seconds now and then, but we always set off again afterwards, carrying on a pace that would cripple us if he continued it much longer.

"I cannot walk much further tonight… and the town is still a way off, what will we do?" I gasped out, clutching my sides as I suffered from stitch; I chewed the inside of my mouth, worrying again.

"When you truly cannot continue, I will throw you over my shoulder and make off with you." Even in a situation like this he still laughed at me. I elbowed him and listened to him wheeze.

"I doubt you could even pick me up let alone walk carrying me." I joked with him; Lynceus was in a state that was almost as bad as mine.

"I will manage if I have to." He told me and I believed him for some reason. We went on and somehow we made it into the town and limping found an inn; an inn with a very dubious name that I will not repeat, and a very indecent picture hanging up outside it. I raised an eyebrow at Lynceus.

"It is either this or we sleep on the road. Take your pick."

Getting back my breath, I walked into the bar and desperately wished that I had not done so. A woman was entertaining the men as they sat in a secluded corner, drinking their alcohol, scantily-clad, do not ask me to describe how she was doing her job; I am still, even now, trying to get the image out of my mind.

We walked up and asked for a room for the night. No ring on my finger, it was obvious to the owner of this debauched and corrupt place what I was, a prostitute. It was not uncommon so we received only knowing looks and a wink. I tried my very hardest not to hit the small… thin… weasel-like man that I took an instant and strong dislike to. Claming myself down I flung a vacant smile about, lolled my head on Lynceus, sighed, whinged, and fluttered my eyelashes at anyone. How I detested acting like a mindless fool, what would Lynceus think of me after this? He jumped an inch when I wrapped my arm around his and looked at me as if I had truly lost my wits and my mind until he realised that it was all an act. After all that and all my fabulous acting skills there were no rooms left in this inn and no more inns close to here. We had brought a good deal of gold with us, enough to live comfortably for months or more, but the gold was useless because we could not spend it and we could not move from this place, I refused to move any more, every limb hurt and my feet most of all. Lynceus, looking very dangerous and mad, took charge and I smiled at everyone next to him, resting my elbows on the table and my head in my hands, I watched with amusement as Lynceus tried to get us a room here, there was no way we could walk to another inn, no way at all…

"Let me put this a better way, what will it take for myself and that beautiful lady over there to get a room?"

The owner stuttered and again told us that the rooms were all full and he had none left to give us. I snorted at being called a beautiful lady and quickly changed it into a delicate cough when Lynceus glared at me.

"What will it take for some one to exit from their room and for us to enter into it? How much will it cost?"

Eyes gleaming, the price was named and it was outrageous and obscene for this shoddy and gaudy, disgusting place. I was shocked and horrified and Lynceus outraged.

"What!" He yelled, "Are you crazy? All that I want is a room, any room, where I can have some water, where my lady and I can rest and relax. Gods, I would not pay that price to stay in the Palace! All I want is a room, one room, any room, so that the lady and I can…"

I broke in there at that point with an innocent smile and an even more innocent question, "You can what dear? What will we be doing love?"

Bright spots of pink sprang to life in his cheeks and he looked away from me, embarrassed, I do believe that I had just succeeded in discomforting Lynceus, oh dear, what was he thinking about? Something most likely very inappropriate!

"Resting?" The owner added helpfully, leering at me. Lynceus moved so that he peered down at the odious man.

"I will tell you the price that I am willing to pay for you to turf out one of the gentlemen in this room, and then you will clean up the room that will have been made free so that myself and my lady will be able to comfortably reside in it." He emphasised the 'my' and named a much more reasonable price, the owner agreed after much intimidation and we waited a while before being shown into our room, having something to eat and drink, while carefully averting our eyes away from that corner and the woman in it.

While waiting some of the awkwardness and tension that had covered the atmosphere with a thick blanket before, when we had walked together to my rooms in the Palace, returned now. I was not tired anymore; he was not and could think of no more excuses to delay the inevitable.

The room was exactly what I had been expecting, the bare minimum and nothing else, a bed, a tin bath and that was about it. Both of us had cuts that needed washing, our feet were a mess and needed bathing so I asked for some water to be brought up to the room, honestly, from the servants reaction you would have thought that I had asked for the world.

With the water I cleaned up the cuts on my arms and legs as Lynceus copied me too, running water and washing away the blood from our skin. After that, Lynceus lifted up my feet, and wincing slightly, cleaned them, ripping up a useless sheet in the room, he bandaged them up, sitting next to him, I did the same for his feet. As strange and as silly as it sounds there was something rather intimate and nice about washing each other's feet, not that it truly was nice picking out bits of twig embedded in his skin, but it was feeling inside me while I was doing it that was nice, it made me feel closer to him than ever. Sitting next to him on the bed I looked up shyly at him,

"You should not be scared of me, I will not hurt you."

"You have never hurt me and I am not afraid of you… only nervous."

The noise from the bar died down, the laughing, the swearing and the raucous singing, when had the room become so silent, and our breathing so loud?

He turned with a very wicked look in his eyes and asked me,

"What exactly was it that you told me I had to do in Death, remind me again."

Determined to play whatever game he wanted to play and to answer and look at him straight in his eyes.

"That you had to prove that you were a better kisser than the God of Death."

"Can you explain how you know what the God of Death kisses like?"

"Is it not obvious? I lost my memories and by kissing me, Hades restored them to me, why?"

"Because I do not believe that I had proved it yet."

I froze and stared at him. My heart was thumping so fast, the blood hammering in my ears, I swear that Lynceus could have hear the furious banging of it. Hiding my face in my hands, determined to tease him, through my fingers I laughed and spoke, my voice muffled a little.

"Not if I stay like this."

He laughed at my naivety and answered with a kiss on my ear.

"Not if I do not kiss your lips. There are more interesting places you know!"

With that scandalous last sentence I will leave you for a while. Know this readers, that some places and some times even you cannot follow me, even if I had wanted you to come with me! I will just say that I can tell you I had no more worries after that moment, no more nervousness, and I quite think that after that point I truly did lose my mind for I am sure I did not think again properly for quite a long time afterwards and worry not, I made perfectly sure that he did not either! Maybe I am what Celcy called me, a saucy minx, but I will leave that decision for you to make. I rather think that I quite deserve that name after this night!

7481, words, now I have a little something for you, it is based on some emails between me and 1madcat, my best friend, concerning my muse!

Greywitch: Muse… thank you so much, I will worship you forever and ever and ever.

(Greywitch kneels and bows down in front of muse and worships her.)

1madcat: What are you doing, that's my muse! Give it back; you nicked it off me and now I can't write, give it back! Now!

(1madcat grabbed muse and pulls)

Greywitch: Hey, that MY muse go and get your own… give it back, it's mine not yours.

(Greywitch grabbed the other side of muse and pulls too."

1madcat: It's MINE!

Greywitch: No it's not it's MINE!

CHOOSE ENDING:

EITHER

A) (Muse is ripped in half and both Greywitch and 1madcat get a bit, then Greywitch sneaks up and takes the half off 1madcat and runs off laughing manically.)

B) (Muse agrees to be split in half and gives one to 1madcat and the other half to Greywitch who shake hands and make friends again.)

OR

C) (1madcat being violent and crazy snatches the whole of the muse and runs off cackling evilly in the distance while Greywitch sits down and cries.)

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 4000 words a go.


	33. Prison, Youth and Forgotten First Love

A/N: Go and read my best friend's stories, 1madcat, especially 'if you are what you are not.' and her sisters site, sixfootbeetle.

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

Waking up was usually a reason for me to feel a sharp sense of horror or worry, just the merest hint of simply… being, feeling, hearing, breathing, thinking and being aware of doing so meant that I was awake and that meant that I then had to figure out and puzzle my way through yet another vision that I had suffered from in the night. Now, as I began gradually to wake, I felt no horror, nothing but peace and contentment… I was happy! The wind blew across my cheeks, blew over lips that were slightly swollen and bruised, strands of hair that had been played with and were now tickling my nose and creating havoc. Waking me from my slumber, blowing the drapes at the window to and fro, my ears told me what had woken me up, the sound of birds making more than their fair share of noise to freeze and shatter the peace… my peace. I knew that sound, I knew the feel of a breeze across my face and I knew this afternoon, for as soon as I opened my eyes I would find that it was not morning, but afternoon, I was living through my vision once more… Oh Gods, how could this be happening to me?

Slowly, so slowly I opened my eyes, the sun light flooding in from the window, blinding me with the white hot light, the sky was blue and for winter it was extremely hot and not even a cloud dared to mar that perfect sky; not at all perfect for me because this was my vision. I turned around, knowing that I would see Lynceus, his face so young in sleep, so handsome. Relief flooded through me as I took in our surroundings, never had I been so relieved to see such a sparse, cheap, horrid room, this was not my own room in the palace, and further more, the sound of two bells chimes broke through the song of the birds, and, as I remembered last night, with scarlet stealing up over my skin, and as I remind you and only you, that in my vision I had worn a night-robe, as I moved to see Lynceus, the sheet covering us slipped and it had revealed a good deal more of us than I thought strictly necessary and decent, considering that neither of us wore a stitch of clothing. Gods, my cheeks felt as if they were on fire as I blushed furiously! I tell you readers that I gave a new meaning to the colour scarlet.

That was something that was soon remedied as I slipped quietly out of bed, taking care not to wake up my heavily breathing husband, and picking up some of my clothing off the floor near the bed, I grasped them to myself, trying and failing to cover me. Feeling different and not knowing why, I wandered out of bed and over to the bathing room, at the very least this wretched and God-forsaken place had a bathing room. I turned behind me to check that Sleeping Beauty was still beautiful and still asleep, he was and still breathing loudly. Standing still and a little… uneasy… I dropped the clothes I had clutched to myself and watched as they fell to the floor in a pile… I checked myself, from head to toe, from shoulder to finger and hip to ankle, nothing looked different to what it had been like yesterday, but something seemed different and strange and I just could not at the moment put my finger on it. What if it was not something on the outside, something that could be changed or hidden if necessary, what if what was different about me was inside… something not so easy to fix? It was during these thoughts about what was making me feel strange that I hit across a revelation, and now I knew what was changed about me, do you remember, my readers, ages ago when I first arrived in Argos, telling you that being without Lynceus had been like being without half of my soul? Well… now I realised what I felt, it was wholeness, completeness, and I no longer felt as if I was split in two… Now I felt that Lynceus had made me complete again. If any of you readers doubt my words or tell me that I am acting like a fool girl in the first flush of youth then I will answer quite simply, did any of you seriously expect me to go through last night and not be different, not be changed somehow in some unimaginable way, I mean my own mind was still getting used to the idea of being married to him. To tell you honestly readers, thinking as one person, breathing as one, blood flowing through one body and not two and even simply being one person instead of two people was a wonder, a mystery to me, like some sort of magic that I had no knowledge of. Even just holding each other I felt in all seriousness that I knew every thought, every feeling, running through him, and he knew exactly what I was thinking, what I was dreaming of. I scanned myself again, just to make sure that that truly was nothing wrong or different about me, nothing that he or I could see or notice.

"What are you doing, checking for bugs or fleas after sleeping on that God-forsaken rotten bed?"

Screaming I turned around, then desperately wished that I had not, what in Hades' Hell was he doing? What was wrong with him? Lynceus' face and the look he gave me while lolling on the door frame was more than enough to light up all the lamps in Argos. I hastily grabbed a dress from the pile of clothing on the floor and urgently pulled it on too late. Saying that scarlet covered my skin was not quite adequate enough to describe the colour I turned after that, seeing how uncomfortable I was, he turned around, and wandered away from the room, at least the man had the decency to wrap that sheet around him, I mean, how much worse would it have been if he had not and was walking about the room dressed in nothing but his own skin? All the while he laughed at me, and the wretched, horrible man then shouted back to tell me that I should worry not for he had seen it all before, most specifically, last night! The nerve of that man, had he absolutely no sense of decency at all? I wanted so badly to kill him, that feeling might possibly explain how a chair, placed very handily right next to the bathing room, found itself launched into the air, with a very satisfying thud it hit him on the head. Under my shocked eyes he sank down to the floor and lay there, lifeless, Gods! What had I done to him, maybe I should have thrown another stool at him and left the chair until later.

"Lynceus?" I asked him… "Lynceus?" Cautiously I approached his still body, Gods what had I done? Well… anyway he deserved it and I was not going to apologise to him when he recovered… if he recovered, I might just throw another chair at him while he was there, defenceless and unable to move, surely that would stop him from laughing at me and saying inappropriate things at me?

I bent over him, maybe I was just a tiny little bit worried about him now, "Lynceus…" I repeated again, and prodded his shoulder, "Lynceus?" With a shout and a growl he leapt up, making me jump and start with the surprise and he then launched himself at me, tickling me and torturing me no end… and to make it even better, due to my foolishness for I really should have seen this coming, I was unable to do anything except laugh and squirm… and laugh even more.

A while later or maybe a great deal later, I watched him sleep, his long curly black hair covering part of his face and his mouth frozen slightly in a smile that still somehow managed to be almost a smirk. I pulled his hair to wake him up, which took a long time to do, he sat up and looked at me and scowled.

"What is so important that you woke me up for…? I need my sleep you know… what with me having a wife like you, if I am going to heal quickly from all the chairs and furniture that you have thrown at me, then I need a lot of sleep."

I snorted, that was not quite what he had told me last night! "I think that we should talk for a moment about what we are going to do, because we have to keep moving, we cannot stay here in the same place for more than a day because some one will see us and recognise us, and besides, have you not got a boat we were meant to catch in two more days time, a boat that will take us back to Egypt?"

He groaned at me and rolled his eyes. "Can we not just stay here for the rest of the time? I do not want to move."

"Where precisely do you want to stay and not move from, this inn or this bed? Because you know that you will stay in neither… I am definitely not staying here all day and I most certainly am not staying in this inn for much longer."

Again he groaned and again I pulled his hair. "Come on lazy… we have to get up… come on, out the bed now before I kick you out."

We got dressed and walked down to the bar to the pay for the one night we had stayed here, the owner winked some more, leered a great deal, and that evil man after we paid even attempted to look down my shirt! Could you believe the man, beating Lynceus to it, I slapped him hard around the face. With a smile that belied the very dangerous look in his eyes, Lynceus threatened to kill the man unless he learned to keep his eyes to himself; the beautiful lady was very insulted, and that I was!

We walked once more hand in hand, our marriage rings still about my neck, after the… rest, food and drink that we had received at that scandalous establishment, walking quickly and taking few breaks we reached the next inn before the sun fell and after gaining instructions on how to reach the second, we continued on for the night, even though the sky was darkening fast, the inn was close and we reached it before twilight. Slowly we were moving further and further away from the palace and by tomorrow we would hopefully have reached the boat that was waiting for us and then nothing Danaus could do would stop us; we would be on the water and far away from that evil man's influence. In fact the man could stamp his feet and try as hard as he could to catch us, punish us or even kill us, but we would be separated by water and land so really, what could he do? The only thing he could do is stamp his feet, sulk and vainly rage, which was really not that much. Fool that I was I thought our danger nearly through, I thought that we were almost safe now, almost on our way to safety.

My feet were now in good sturdy boots as well as Lynceus', boots that had cost us a pretty penny from a half-drunk man in the bar, this way we would not need to bandage our feet this night, besides that the roads and paths were marginally better than what they had been like walking to the first inn and I had fewer scratches on me now.

We wandered through the streets and came to the inn where we would stay the night. It had a much more interesting name and a much more decent picture on the front than the first one had, although, saying that a bar with the name 'The Greek Mistress' and a picture of a woman wearing little more than a thin night-robe, was decent, was laughable. I glared at Lynceus when he asked me whether I wanted to be his Greek mistress. Then I considered throwing my boot at him, not that it would do any good because he was still as rude and as wretched, but it would make me feel better.

I had a very uneasy feeling about this particular bar a really horrible feeling in the put of my stomach, I mean, the woman was dancing on top of a wooden table for Zeus's sake, what sort of feeling was I suppose to have? I was only glad that Lynceus kept his eyes as far away from the woman as possible; he would have caught the harder edge of my hand if his eyes had moved even in the slightest way towards her direction. Then the incorrigible man ruined it all by asking me if I too would get up there and dance for him if he paid me; I stamped on his foot in my big, heavy boots.

The rather obese, tall owner of this bar looked at me and Lynceus so much I was very tempted to ask him which of us had taken his fancy, myself, once more acting like a fool and batting my eyes lashes at him, or Lynceus, who was wearing that disgraceful toga-thing again, I swear the man was deciding whether to look at my chest or Lynceus'. But unlike the other bar there were free rooms here and we did not have to pay nearly double for them, walking up the stairs to get to our room, I still had that feeling and as I could not see any semi-naked women dancing on tables in front of me, with a sigh, I took it to mean that once more we were in fact in danger yet again.

"Lynceus… we had to be careful here, I have this feeling… and I think that we should not buy any food or drink from this place and we should… stay together as much as possible… I think that we are in danger again…"

He growled at me… "I really do not like your side of the family… and I really hate your father. Fine, I will stay by your side until we get on that damned boat… you know, even when we get back to Egypt I will still be looking over my shoulder, waiting for Danaus to attack."

We looked about the room we had been given and I for one was relieved that it was not at all like the previous one, much better, I sighed, with contentment. Walking out again, we left our things, all our packs and bags in the room, and went to find some kind woman who would give us some bread and cheese for money.

I curse myself so many times now, how could I have been a fool enough to have left all our belongings in the room for anyone to go through and discover who we were, how could I have been so foolish, I mean what on Zeus' Earth had I been thinking? As for Lynceus well... he had almost as much of the blame as I did.

Walking back under a star-lit sky while we ate some bread and cheese should have been beautiful, as I pointed out all the star-constellations to Lynceus, and remember another night like this when we had been awake, looking up at stars, the night of the dance that we should never have done, underneath a black sky we had danced again, and danger had followed me back to my rooms after it. I was alert all the time we were out and I watched everything.

We walked back into the inn, that feeling growing and growing, and the woman who had been dancing now singing something that sounded dreadful and described something that when I asked Lynceus what precisely it was, simply to see his reaction, made him choke and cough in shock. Smiling sweetly at him I asked him whether since he could not tell me, he could show me. Trust me readers; the look on his face was revenge enough when I told that since he obviously did not know that I would ask some one else what it was… I think he regretted asking me to table dance for him!

We walked back into our room, Lynceus still silent and spluttering with horror, myself still smiling with satisfaction, that smile slipped quickly away and changed to a look of terror to find the door open and the owner of the bar looking through our things. Gods, anyone who saw our things would know that we were not who we said we were, they would know that we were the escaped Princess and her new husband, Gods, what were we to do? Alongside the owner of the bar were three big, very muscular men that were there simply as body-guards, oh dear.

"I suppose that your father will be very worried about you… Princess… why he has offered us all a great deal of money to find you and bring you back alive." He smiled at me and ignored Lynceus.

Whatever Danaus had offered this man, I could not match in money, I had nothing to bribe him with, nothing to bargain with, and so we had no choice, why had I not taken into account that Danaus had spies in every corner and whole he could find, why had I been such a fool… such a stupid, mindless fool. Lynceus immediately took up a position in front of me, very protective… need I have told him that it should have been the other way around, remember… Celcy had told me that she pitied the person who decided to fight against me.

I had already picked the person that I wanted to fight with, smaller than the others and less confident, Lynceus, I decided, could have the other two, after all… I was just a little woman… I could not fight! Oh yes I could and I most certainly would. Making the first move I leapt into the air, leap-frogging over Lynceus while he looked on in horror, I do not quite think he could believe his eyes. I landed very gracefully on top on the biggest, meanest looking man, and sadly he did not stay down on the floor. Admittedly for the most part I was doing rather well… my lip was burst and while I did have something that felt like it would be a black eyes tomorrow, the man looked a good deal worse, not only had I hit this human pile of wood and steel hard and broken his nose, which looked as if some one had already done that more than once to him before, I had also brought my knee very painfully up into his groin, hoping beyond hope that this man did not have a wife who wanted a child because, from the way he was rolling around on the floor, he would not be able to procreate for rather a long time if ever, I markedly glared at Lynceus after doing this and pointed at the man as he cried out in agony, very obvious and simple warning of what was going to happen to him if he continued being so… exasperating. Whilst I was fighting my own fight, Lynceus, using more brute strength and anger more than any sort of good technique, I swear Celcy would faint if she saw the moves he was making, had made short work of one who was now tied up on the floor howling, but I think the awful noise he was making had more to do with the fact that his arms were bent backwards in a dreadful position than the fact he was seriously hurt. But… the advantage we had vanished quickly, the owner of this dreadful place untied his body-guard and harshly slapped the one that I had almost castrated since he was simply crying and sobbing like a girl. Together the two big men crowded in Lynceus, while the fat horrid owner and the other who was dying for revenge after the moves that I had pulled on, grouped about me.

Fighting was useless even though I refused to give in, I was out numbered and soon I lying on the floor, held down, all the while kicking, biting and thrashing about, trying to get free, but all in vain. I watched Lynceus as he was sat on by both of them and as one thrust his beefy elbow upwards, into Lynceus' throat.

"Now you will swallow this… will you not?" The heavy and overweight man who had discovered asked me.

"I am the one that Danaus wants, let my husband go. If you do that then I will take whatever it is without a fuss." As I said those words Lynceus began to shout and struggle even more, telling me not to, telling that man that he was the one who Danaus wanted, not me, that I was only a defenceless woman, after the fight I doubt that they would ever call a woman defenceless again, so you can imagine how well his words worked.

"I cannot do that; the King wants both of you."

I will not repeat what I told him to do with the concoction he held in his hand, only that the overall meaning was for him to stick the bottle where the sun did not shine.

"Fine… I will have to force you." Holding my nose, the disgusting mixture was forced into my mouth and then I swallowed it. Truly it tasted worse than anything Celcy has thought up for me to take for colds or slight fevers, I watched as Lynceus too was forced to swallow it. My stomach heaved and I turned my head and was violently sick, Gods, what had they given me? Soon I did not have time enough to think of that, because, still being restrained and still drugged with something only the Gods could know what it was, I fell swiftly and quickly into unconsciousness.

Why did I constantly get into these kinds of situations? Why was I still so much of a fool, even after everything that had happened to me? I was without a doubt perfectly deserving of this for simply being so dim-witted and stupid. I have no memories of being carried out of that cursed place, and no memories of how I woke up with a lot more injuries that the few that I had fallen asleep with, I still cringe thinking of what those men could have done to me, vulnerable and comatose as I was then, only the Gods know. As for Lynceus, all I needed to know was that he was alive, that they had not beaten him to death or killed him because of me; too many people had died due to me, Greer… Pelasgus… Aegyptus… my stepmother… my only baby brother… if Lynceus joined the names of the Dead that I had inscribed onto my soul, well… I would have no soul left to inscribe and no living heart left for anyone to ever break or hurt again.

Drowsily I came to, as soon as I realised that I was in fact alert I began to dry heave, dry because quite obviously I had not eaten in a good few hours, and I was being sick because that was apparently a side-effect of whatever potion those foul men had given me. What had they used to make me unconscious? What if it was a slow acting poison that would take it's time killing me? I ran through a list of plants and herbs that Celcy had hammered into my mind to make me aware of poisons that could be used to kill me, that would be able to make some one unconscious and sick with the small dose that I had been given, it was a short list as there had been no other side-effects and the main suspect was _Tylophora indica_, or rather as it is more commonly called, Antamul, and hopefully the dose that they had given me was not enough to induce Death because if it was, I would not be awake. As I opened my eyes cautiously, not wanting to wake, wanting to stay asleep, unaware of what was happening, I then wondered whether I was in fact hallucinating because it was as if I had not opened my eyes, wherever I was being held, it was pitch black, as dark as a night without the stars or the moon to light it. Not only were there no obvious windows, there were metal bars on the door that I only felt because I could not see them, and there was something rough and scratchy on the hard, stone floor, maybe straw. My back hurt and I felt my face to find it painful, bruised and cut in more places that it had been when they had drugged me. I was immensely relieved to find myself still clothed, although that really counted for nothing, but all in all I was worried, I knew not where I was, where Lynceus was, and I did not even know what I was lying on. Truly I was more than worried, I was terrified, fear racing through me, as I realised where precisely I was… I was in my vision…

Readers do you remember what Celcy had told me, the very first time we met, she had said to me, 'your father is your father, disobey him and get caught and you will end up in the courts arguing for your life.' Was I in a holding cell… some place they stored criminals that had murdered, stolen from, raped or assaulted people, some where a girl who had simply not done what her father had ordered her to would be held. As the light gradually and slowly grew, I recognised the grey walls, the thick bars that I could not escape from, the dirty straw on the floor that I think was meant to be my bed. Gods! What had I ever done in my previous lives to deserve the horrors that you made me go through? This cell was revolting and I soon wished that I had not wanted to know what exactly it was that I was lying on, I now knew and let me tell you readers that it was not at all pretty.

The light grew then fell away again in what I could only imagine was the passing of yet another day, a whole day that I had been drugged and cataleptic and another day in this cell, time passes by strangely when you are on your own, in a prison box. As for the others being held in similar cells, well… all I can say is that thank the Gods that some one had the presence of mind not to make me share a cell with some of the animals that inhabited this prison, from the things that they called out to me, I seriously doubt whether a woman had been held in here for a long time, and that these men certainly had been here for an age for what they spoke out to me made me seriously doubt that they knew how to behave in front of a lady. I ignored them sometimes, or when the insults and crude things they were saying grew too offensive to ignore, I stuck out a hand and gestured rather rudely to them what I thought they should do to themselves. Every word they said to me I stored away in a small part of my mind as ammunition later on, weapons I could, if I wanted to, use against Lynceus to shock him enough that he would do what I wanted, or simply to horrify Celcy and possibly make her faint, now that would be interesting!

It was with the passing of the second night that help, or rather hope came to me. I had made it my job to clear out part of the cell, I moved anything that I was brave enough to touch into a corner of the tiny room, I gathered up all the hay and put it in the opposite corner, we were fed twice a day and what we received was not even enough to have fed a cat as small as Greer had been, missing her made me loathe this place even more and I screamed the next time on the men in this damned place spoke, even if it was only to talk to his neighbour. With the food was new hay, not clean, but I had not been expecting it to be, I hated what my life had come to, and I was determined that some how I would find a way to escape, some how I would for if I stayed here, my Death would surely be the result. The judges of this sort of crime would be old, biased and every girl sentenced for disobeying her father always died, because of course, it was such a heinous crime.

I began plotting that night and so I was very much awake when, from outside my cell a hand reached in and touched my arm. Thinking it a prisoner escaped I grabbed hold of it, digging in my nails, determined that they would tell me how they had broken free, and snarled at whoever it was.

"That is a very nice thank-you for people who had come to see how you are. We will not bother next time." I relaxed upon hearing that voice and released my hold on the arm, it was Eros and Artemis. But still, what sort of fool sticks his arms through a bar, I mean, what would he have done if I had bitten his arm off?

"No wonder she did not recognise us, it is so dark in here, disgraceful this is." Both whispering, although there was no need, if any of the prisoners overheard us and told anyone about Gods being in the prison, well… the man was obviously insane and the only thing that would happened afterwards would be a lot of people laughing at him. Prisons were said to be abandoned and forsaken by the Gods, there was no hope here, and no chance of any coming soon.

"Nestra, are you alright, let me look at your face, Eros will never be able to partially heal some of those bruises, healing takes dedication and precision, something he will never have."

Moving through the bars as if they were not there, Artemis and Eros stepped into the tiny, cupboard-sized cell that I was being held in, with a clap of his hands and a small upwards movement, Eros lifted up a bright, pulsating, glowing ball of dim red light that hovered over my head, casting dark shadows about the room and on the walls

"First tell me whether Lynceus is alright, is he alive? Is he well? Tell me then you can heal whatever you wish to."

Standing where they were, tracing through their connection to me and following that to my link with Lynceus, they realised what I could not and nodded to me.

"He is alive; his cell is on the other side of this wretched building; but from what I can tell, he is in rather the same state you are, not very pretty at the moment your husband." Artemis smiled reassuringly at me while Eros spoke.

Tutting, cursing and growling at nothing in particular she examined my face, holding it up in the light and turning it from side to side. Her eyes were rapidly glowing a very nasty red; her temper was flaring once more.

"Some of those cuts are quite nasty but not serious and there are not that many of them so I will leave them alone and I can heal away most of those bruises, but if I heal them all, some one will notice. What happened to you Nestra, you just vanished, and ran away, who did this?"

"I had a vision of Danaus killing Lynceus and I because I did not stab Lynceus with the dagger, we had to leave. The first inn we went to was… well… the only word I can use to describe it is interesting, and as for the dancer in the second… please do not make me describe her Eros. But we left so no one would have the time or the chance to recognise us and when we got to the second inn we left our things in the room while we went to get something to eat, the owner was one of Danaus' spies and went through our things. There was a little fight and I think that one of those men will never be able to have children again." At this Eros laughed and Artemis smiled. I continued, "But they forced something down me, I think it was the juice from an Antamul plant because I only remember waking up here, I think on the way from the bar to the prison the men had revenge because I swear that I did not look like this when they drugged me."

Eros now was mad, his eyes going the same dangerously dark scarlet colour as Artemis', his laughter vanishing, "Did they touch or hurt you where they should not have done?"

"I do not think so. Artemis, heal what you want, even just a few of these bruises healed will be a relief to me." With that relief showed evident on Eros' face and Artemis willingly obliged me and, laying gentle hands on my face, vanished away some of the bruises and the swelling that had mad touching my face so painful.

"Thank-you Artemis."

Silently I looked at them, and then thought of something, I was in here because I had not killed Lynceus, were any of my half-sisters in here as well? Dread filled me as I realised that I had neither heard them nor seen them, and the men in here had directed all of their lovely comments to me, if any of my half-sisters had been here well I would have been left and forgotten for their beauty. I feared the answer, but the question needed to be asked.

"Are any of my half-sisters in here; in any part of prison like I am; any of them?" I pleaded with them, some of them had to have spared Lynceus' brothers they had to, they could not possibly have killed all forty-nine of them, they could not have killed them all… not my brothers…

Looking at the floor then sending a helpless look up at Eros, Artemis did not answer me, I knew the answer already but I had to hear her say it, I had to hear her tell me that they were gone, why would she not look at me?

"Look at me and answer me, are any of them here? Any of them at all… please…" I did not know whether I was asking some one to answer me or whether I was pleading with The Fates for them not to have cut off all of Lynceus' brother's life thread.

"Only you and Lynceus are here Nestra." Eros' soft answer spoke in loud volumes to me to me, the whole prison fell silent and it seemed as if even the noise from the outside of the prison died away, I wanted to scream, to cry out in agony as if some one had killed me instead of them, Eros pulled me towards him and Artemis, and into a tight hug, Artemis cried, but my eyes were dry and painful, I wanted to cry, but now I had to think of my own survival, the Dead were dead and nothing I did could bring them back to me. Only Lynceus had survived and now that evil man that deemed himself worthy enough to call me his daughter wanted to kill him too, kill the last and most favoured child of Aegyptus. My uncle had lost all but one of his sons, look how loving me like a daughter had repaid him, forty-nine more names were added to my list, my brothers… all of them dead because of me… why had I not tried to do more for them? The sound of the two bell chimes hat I had heard the morning in the first inn flooded back to me, why had I not taken note of them then? The sound of the second bell meant a death or murder in the palace, not just one death this time, but forty-nine of them... for forty-nine brothers… my husband's brothers…

All I could do now was to make sure that while Lynceus' brother had died, that Lynceus survived, I would mourn my brothers and as sure as I told this to you and stood here I would most certainly revenge them, but for now there was no time for anything except preventing the death of my husband. Look at me, I had sworn that I would never go into Death again or die for him, and judging from how I felt at the moment, I would break that promise and do just what I had sworn I would not do without even thinking, in a blink of my eyelids, what had Lynceus done to me? What had I become? My poor brothers, why had they not heeded my words? They had known me since I was sixteen, young, and eager to grow, now I was six and twenty and I felt so old and embittered, why had they so easily listened to Danaus, and not to me? Gods the guilt of their deaths filled me to the brim and weighed me down with sorrow and despair, more lives that I had not been able to save, through my inaction, why had I just left them there, why had I not tried to convince them more? They were gone to me now, my cheeks damp with grief I did not remember letting loose. I was determined that although I had been unable to save so many people, I would save Lynceus, I had to. Pulling out of their embrace I asked them,

"Can you do anything for me? I mean can you get me out of here and help me find Lynceus? Can you help me at all?" Hoping beyond hope that they would say that they could, but knowing that I was asking them to break rules. For remember Hera telling me that Eros would be punished for scaring away all of the crowd that had been abusing Psyche, immortals were not supposed to meddle in the lives of mortal because serious and dangerous things happened when they did and The Fates most certainly hated interference.

Eros dragged Artemis away from me and quietly and heatedly they argued about what they could and could not do, Eros was apparently in favour of helping me and breaking rules, rebel that he was, and Artemis was worried in of reprobation on them, she was exactly what Eros had once called her, sensible and very law-abiding for a Goddess. I knew that they would do whatever they could for me but whatever they could do was limited.

"We cannot actively help you, we are meant only to influence and advice through obscure means, breaking you out of prison would end with us possibly being through out of Mount Olympus and being turned into mortals."

What you are saying is what I need some one who likes to meddle, who can handle Zeus and who can actually get something done, well… advise me, who do we know that can do all of that?"

Eros brightened up and gestured to himself, Artemis snorted and said, "While you like to meddle and admittedly you are not afraid of Zeus, Nestra specifically said that we needed some one who can get things done, and that is not something I can see you doing."

"What about my mother?" Eros said with a grin,

"Will she want to help me? If so, what could she do?"

"I will ask her for help, worry not because whatever she will do, it will not probably be as awful as The Trojan War, maybe she will create a little confusion so that the judges at your trial know not what they are doing."

They vanished, promising me that they would get me help and that if the worst came to the worst, they would completely and utterly destroy the rules they were meant to abide by and break the bars on my door so I could escape.

I slept a little that night, a good deal more than the first night where I had not slept at all, my face ached less and I had hope now and trusted that my friends would help me. As the guards came around with the first meal, when the light shone dimly through our dull rooms that to some were their whole world, a large, burly man kindly informed me that I would, at mid day, be arguing for my life in court, against the man who should have been my father, who should have loved me, and if I did not put forward my case very well then I would not live to see next week. I was terrified, the man who was meant to protect, to care for me, was arguing for me to die because I had disobeyed him, how true that the living that pose the greater threat, the dead cannot hurt or harm us, but those who are alive do not stop doing both. Mid day came and I was determined that they would not get me there without a fight, I kicked, punched, hit, bit, screamed, scratched, slapped, swore, cursed and pinched as I was dragged out of my cell. The men who had previously shouted insults and very rude comments at me, cheered me as I fought every inch of the way there.

Arriving in a cold room where the sunlight flooding through the windows showed me for what I was, beaten, bloody and partially bruised, dirty and filthy, I most likely smelled something dreadful too, ripped clothing that was old and worn. My back ramrod straight as if I had a piece of wood supporting my posture, I would be a Princess until the very day that I died, nothing and no one, not even they could take that away from me. I looked up, glaring at each and every one of the old, decrepit, frail, biased men who would be deciding my fate, how could they judge me? They were old, drenched in memories of a time when girls simply did not disobey their fathers, did not appeared so ill-groomed, so dirty. I was a woman that did not belong in this time, and I knew not how to speak, how to persuade the judges that I did not deserve to die… I knew not what to do, my time was slowly running out and I could not see my immortals anywhere, what was I to do? They sat there, behind a table in front of me, a pompous as I do not know how to describe, their eyes looking at me with disgust, evidently I did not measure up to their expectations of the perfect woman; Danaus on the other side of the room, opposite me.

A reading of the formal charge against me was loudly read out to the judges by my accuser, my father who stood and smiled at me, smiled as if he was pleased that I would die, he smiled!

"This woman, of the frail, weaker sex, is accused of disobeying her legal guardian, myself. How do you, Hypermnestra, first daughter of Danaus, King of Argos, answer this charge, are you guilty or not?" His voice weaving a spell reminiscent of the web that he had spun for his daughters; persuading all but one to kill their husbands, and now persuading the judges that even before I had opened my mouth to answer his ridiculous charge that I was guilty, I mean, why would a daughter of a high-standing man disobey her father unless she was wicked and wilful?

"I, Hypermnestra, first daughter of Danaus, King of Argos, answer the charge by saying that I am not guilty."

Under oath did I say that I was not guilty and so too did Danaus, under the very same oath testify that I was guilty. Under the Light of Zeus himself, Creator of Earth, Supreme God of all did I declare my innocence, but, who would they believe, a man who was a King or a weak, feeble girl who was but a woman? Terror ran through me, I would not be believed and they would sentence me to death, with my passing so too would Lynceus die for who would save him if I was not alive?

So you will imagine my relief when, approaching the table with the judges on it, came Aphrodite. Gods how lovely she was; I had forgotten in the years that I had missed her. Blonde hair, which was the exact shade of Eros', fell down past her shoulders in a riot of gentle curls, big blue eyes the colour of a morning sky filled a face that was perfect. Beauty was her, and she embodied Beauty, not tall but not short either, her curvy shape swayed from side to side as she walked, the men she passed fell to one side to stare at her, to drink up more of her, like men who had unquenchable thirst that only she could satisfy. The robe she was wearing was chosen precisely because it was basically nearly see-through, the colour matching her eyes. Where she walked music flowed, flowers bloomed, birds sang and butterflies danced about her, it took a great deal of effort on the part of Eros for that sort of reaction not to follow him about while he moved and walked, when he was young it had happened often and I had found it hilarious, with Aphrodite though, it was just natural. Anyone else and I would have called them a bare-faced whore, on Aphrodite, it was as if acting like this, being so attractive to men was simply part of her and it was just ingrained deep within her.

Brazen and bold like I had never before seen her, she seemed to float through the air, to land gracefully on the table in front of the judges, they looked as if they could not quite believe their eyes, one, as ancient as Time itself, looked as if he was about to keel over and die from shock, others had eyes that resembled frogs, popping out, while all of them had open mouths.

"Gentlemen, what are you doing here? Honestly, have you nothing… better and slightly more interesting to do that this?" Aphrodite's voice was deep and husky, her seductive charms working extremely well as she leaned closer to one, revealing a good deal of her chest, it did not take a genius to work out what Aphrodite thought would be better then judging my trial.

"Can you not remember what it was like to be young… free… beautiful and eager to embrace life? Gentlemen tell me that you remember your youth, your first love… the feelings of being so open and wild?"

She paused to smile at them, as she ran a hand through her hair, drawing her legs up and around her giving them a very good view of them at the same time. Free… single and full of life were just many of the words that described Aphrodite perfectly, the men were literally eating out of the palm of her hand, drooling whilst looking at her, I watched, fascinated as Aphrodite worked her magic and asked myself as simple question, how did she do it?

Her hands working frantically while she smiled and flirted, fingers entwining and lacing together then pulling apart; she weaved a spell and muttered words under her breath. Glowing a gentle rose her hands let loose a ball of light, of power, onto the men who were all too busy staring dazed at her to notice what was heading their way, Danaus too, entranced by the Lady of Love herself never saw what was right in front of his nose.

The light covered Aphrodite in a wave of glory, her face lit up and her beauty exaggerated, power submerging her and covering her. The shimmering ball spread into one wall that hit the men and then evaporated, being absorbed into the judges. With a satisfied smile Aphrodite blew a kiss towards Danaus as he and all of the others slumped forward, their bodies limp as if in sleep. She reached out a hand for me to take and looked at me reassuringly.

"What did you do?" I asked her in awe while walking from the room, still holding her hand.

"It was a simple spell for them to recall their youth, their first love. When they wake up they will be merely puzzled and confused, they might remember you, but you will be gone so they can do nothing if you do not get yourself caught again. Look at you!" She exclaimed, "Come here." She pulled me toward her and resting a hand on my face healed me. "How you have grown up! Look at what the years have done to you! Did I not tell you that my son had sent an arrow your way?"

Aphrodite was like she had never changed, she treated me like she had never left me, as if my thirteenth birthday had been yesterday. How lovely it was to talk to her again, to tell her everything that had happened to me, most of which Eros or Artemis had told her. I could not possible thank her enough for saving me, for saving both mine and therefore Lynceus' life.

She left me with instructions on where to find Lynceus, all I had to do now was sneak through a jail that was run by men, find Lynceus, release him from his prison cell and then calmly walk back out of the jail, how was I going to achieve that? Gods, why could I not have Aphrodite's charms, then men could fall at my feet wherever I wandered and I could simply step over them and calmly carry on. I was never going to forgive Lynceus for making me save him again, what was I going to do with him? I mean Death was just too quick, too easy… torture, now that was a good idea…

8, 541 words, because only one of you voted, and said voter voted for the muse going to 1madcat, the muse has left me and refuses to come back, I will therefore carry on writing chapters with only 2, 000 words.

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 4000 words a go.


	34. A Bag Full Of Gold Means Nothing

A/N: Go and read my best friend's stories, 1madcat, especially 'if you are what you are not.' and her sisters site, sixfootbeetle.

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

Under a cloak of night, darkness covering me and claiming me as her child, a child of the night, a child of the shadows, I stole along carefully, peeping around corners and sticking carefully to the walls. The immortals could no longer help me, they had already done all that they possibly could for me, and I would not more ask them for more help then I would beg Danaus for some small sign of affection, it was a matter of pride for me.

From my corner I watched as the men who would execute the prisoners wove in and out of the labyrinth of tunnels that filled this hopeless and forsaken place of man, they wore clothes that suited their purpose exactly, the most that I had seen were pale, thin walking and living example of Death. I pressed myself up against the wall, waiting for the right man, after a while of watching and searching, my legs cramped up and my feet grew numb, but I could not move and I could not fidget, but then I saw him. Small and slender for one not of the weaker sex, he looked like an easy target, and as it turned out… he was…

It took little more than reaching out and grabbing his back into the shadows with me to capture him, trying to be gentle for this man, as far as I knew, had never done any wrong to me, I rapped his head against the wall, covering his mouth with my hands so he could not call out, slowly his eyelids fluttered and then closed, eyes rolling backwards and his body falling limply out of my arms to the floor. He would be like that for only a short while so I had to move quickly. I had found a small, quiet hollow that a small man could fit neatly into. Looking down at him, I viewed him with a hint of disgust, I mean, he had not even put up a fight, truly, sometimes, some men deserve everything that they got.

I stripped the man of his long, very dark robe of an unidentifiable colour and replacing mine for his, I pulled off his black cloak before it blending straight back into the shadows and I lost it. Ripping up my own dirty, unkempt clothing I tied together his arms and leg with knots that he would never be able to undo on his own, and then I pushed a wad of unclean material up into his mouth. When morning came, he would be missed and after a little effort, found, but for tonight, in this little nook, here he would stay.

I continued on, confident enough with my disguise that I walked out of the corners and away from the walls, and the places abandoned by the light. The robe hid my slightness and some obvious signs that I was indeed, after all, a woman, for no woman ever has been or possibly ever will be one who brings Death to man. The cloak slid across the floor silently and the good fell over my face, covering me, leaving only a long narrow slit for my eyes and drooping over my chin, the long back obscuring my hair. The accused and he condemned would never know their executors, that way was better for both parties. Eyes down-cast, I met no one's eyes and none chose to grasp my own, luckily my height made me blend in more and no one knew, not the guards or the men, those bringers of Death, or even the prisoners, that today, for this night only, a wolf walked in amongst the sheep. Though, I would never call the men held in here sheep, or myself a wolf, but truly that was rather beside the point and totally irrelevant. My feet walked through hall-ways, through long corridors where the end could not always been seen and the length of it seemed to go on forever to infinity. Softly I trod and quietly I took in my surroundings, to myself saying a silent prayer for the Gods to keep me, to look after me and for them to bring both myself and Lynceus out of this safely. I followed Aphrodite's instructions, at the end of this path I would turn left, and then right, then I would go straight on, and from there I would see Lynceus.

My hands were clasped together, held tightly behind me, for if anyone saw how they shook and trembled then I would be know for sure as an impostor, in this job, shaking hands resulted often in a messy, untidy death, steady and still was the final requirement for this job and at the moment, I shook like a leaf as if a breeze had passed by. What was wrong with me? Why did I shake like a girl who had never broken a rule before, I had been breaking rules since I was a young child, why, I quivered like I had never been in danger before, why did my weak body betray my weak, foolish, worried mind? Why was I so transparent, so foolish, and so totally and utterly weak? Curses curses curses! I would get both myself and Lynceus killed if I continued onwards like this, and with that in my mind, I slapped myself across my face. The sound echoed, my cheek stung and still I shook, fantastic! I cursed under my breath.

Right, I told myself, if I was to play this role, I had to relax, breathe, and calm down. I had dressed up and acted before, why I had even pretended to be a harebrained fool to that guard, years ago why I had tried to escape, while, although admittedly, I had not been playing for my life nor had I been acting for Lynceus' life as well, I had to believe that I was still doing something, a trick, a game, something for fun that would simply annoy and irritate Danaus and my step-mother like I had when I was young so many times. I mean, I loved danger; I loved the thrill I got that raced through my body when I did things like this, what was wrong with me? Danger was something to be tamed and courted, not something to be scared and afraid of.

My hands stilled and I breathed deeply and deliberately, with myself slightly more in control of my body and my worries quelled I continued on my way. Turning, and suddenly finding myself standing in front of Lynceus' cell, Gods it took all that I had in me not to run up to him and run my fingers over his battered, bloody face. What in Hades' hell had they done to him? He was lying crumpled up on the floor and though the light was dim, I could see bruising, swelling on his face and other things that made me as mad as fire and Gods was I just dying to kill or hit something! Knowing that I could not give away who I was, and that I had to act as if I was going to kill Lynceus, which as you my readers know, I have contemplated doing just that on many varied occasions, I gestured over to some guards,

"Get him out of the cell." Commands need no explanation when you are superior to the person receiving them, to give one is a sign of weakness or insecurity. I spoke gruffly, desperately hoping that no one would hear my shriller tones hidden within a false deeper voice.

As I watched they grasped him roughly and literally threw him out of his small room, he landed on the floor with a dull thud. I was rather… concerned that he did not put up a fight, thinking that he was unconscious or worse. That worry was quickly vanquished as I turned and caught him looking at me through half-closed eyes, venomous, calculating, cold and deliberating, he thought that he could attack me, remember, I was smaller than him and even though these robes hid the fact that I was a woman, they did not hide the fact that I was slim, not muscled and I looked as easy a target as the one that I had bound and gagged, no doubt Lynceus was plotting how he could over power me and then go and rescue me, maybe now he would realise that I have never and would never need saving. Grabbing him by his neck, the guards bound his wrists, not that if he had wanted to escape that would have stopped him, I then seized a more than sizeable chunk of his hair and growled at him,

"Move on now then… and say some prayers for your soul, will you not?"

He snarled back at me words that I had never heard before, and trust me; I had no desire to find out what those words meant. How much, dear readers, did I love leading him on by his hair, pushing him on and muttering threats at him, how I tried so hard to keep my laughter at bay! His long hair was matted together and covered the scowl on his face and the sneer on his lips and the disgust and loathing on his face, I swear that if he ever looked at me like that again I would beat him over the head with as many heavy, wooden chairs as I could find!

The lamps flickered and fluttered as we marched, him to places he never knew and me to a door, an exit, something what would take us away from and out of this wretched horrid place.

"So… what did you do? Rape some King's daughter… very bad… and you look like such a nice person as well…" While I was in this position, I might as well make the most of it, and doing this and taunting him was bound to annoy him, he looked very dangerous, and I was sure, from his steely grey eyes that he definitely wanted to kill me.

I smiled underneath my hood as he told me using words that should never even be thought by a Prince who was now a King, let alone spoken, that in no uncertain terms I should go kill myself and do other certainly… more… how shall I put this… interesting things to myself, and even if they had been possible for me to do on my own, I seriously doubt whether he would actually want me doing them! Goodness me, had Aegyptus not tried desperately to eliminate that unsavoury element of his speech, speaking like that to a lady as well! His father would have been horrified!

It was whilst I was smiling to myself that I noticed that not only had we nearly arrived at a door that would take us out into a courtyard that would lead off the land and into a town, I also saw that his hands, frantically moving, twisting, squirming and pulling at the thread biding him, he had almost broken free… well… this was going to be fun… and I had thought this place boring, well… it was about to get a whole lot more motivating by the looks of things!

I had just pulled open the door, which meant that I had to let go of his hair, when he grabbed hold of me, pulling me away from it and slamming it shut with a loud bang. I thanked the Gods for the hood that hid my face; this would never have worked if he had known who I was. With that in mind I was determined to be as brutal and cruel with him as I could be without seriously hurting him even further. His hands on my shoulders, a hard and unmerciful grip that I knew how to get out of, my back to him, I sank to the floor and slid underneath him to straighten myself up and face him.

"Never underestimate your opponent." I said to him, one of the first lessons I had ever learnt, over estimate if necessary but never undervalue for that was a good way to die.

Wary now, obviously I was much more than I had first appeared to be, he tilted his head to one side and looked at me cautiously, obviously assessing my weakness and strengths. I moved first, edging my way carefully towards him, wanting him trapped between myself and the door with no escape available. He however hit out first, making the first offensive move, only just catching me as I moved my head down, those damned robes did not allowed quick movement, I cursed under my breath, he was faster and stronger then I had given him credit for, I was in a situation and needed to make a quick decision, I had broken one of my own rules, damn that had hurt as well!

I lashed out at him, kicking him on his cheek, the one that was swollen, I could have put more strength into it and it could have hurt a lot more than it did, but I still felt myself wince with him as he touched his cheek and it hurt me to see him hurt. That was my opening, he turned to touch his cheek and took his attention away from me, bad move to make and it could, if I had truly wanted him hurt, have been a huge mistake. I leapt into the air to land smoothly, if not gracefully, onto his back, Lynceus collapsed onto the floor, and I sank down onto him, taking out some of my ripped up robe that I had brought with me, I tied up his arms again tightly. I tugged and pulled viscously all the while whispering threats into his ear, I told him that if he tried this again then I would bind up his legs as well and he would be carried out if necessary. Still he had no idea that I was Hypermnestra, his wife!

Grabbing his hair again I pulled him up, trying to ignore the grunt of pain as I wrenched out some of his hair, if any one saw him, they would never suspect that I was any more than a very angry man ready to kill, I had to play this part, later there would be time enough to look after his wounds, hug and possibly kiss him better, for now though, I was his enemy and I had to make sure we got out of here unsuspected. My life and his too depended on it.

We walked out of the door, him passive for once, but I did not think that it would last for long, we passed by the platforms, the places where the men would be hung and killed and then again he began to struggle, his hands working frantically to get free, his arms pulling and pushing, elbowing me and trying so hard to liberate himself from the bounds that held him, standing still and resisting every inch of the way. I pushed him roughly forward, exerting myself more because he was heavier than me and I was still, after all of this, only a woman. I pulled up his head and hissed in his ear, sick of all this drama, and very sore in my ribs after being hit and struck by his arm, and kicked by him too, I am sure he did that with pleasure.

"What did I say that I would do to you if you struggled again? Could you try to bear that in mind next time that you decide to fight and perform mindless and useless heroics?"

He growled at me again and once more I grinned, readers make no mistake, I loved this! How I smiled secretly underneath my hood, how I thanked the Gods that he could not see it! We walked past those platforms and he relaxed slightly as they passed us by, further on, towards a road we walked, honestly, I had just been about to let him loose and pull off my hood when he did something totally uncalled for, I mean what had he been thinking, that I would kill him by the roadside, slit his throat and leave him there for some traveller to find?

I, being a fool, let loose my grip on his hair, with that and his hands still tied behind him, he jumped me, kicking out with his legs whilst jumping into the air. Unlike me softening my blows and blanketing my full strength, he truly wanted to hurt me, so I caught the full blast of his anger and strength on my stomach and winded I fell backwards to the floor. Gods how my back hurt, he would seriously regret doing that to me, maybe I would let the executors hang him after all, what had possessed him? I had just been about to let him go and tell him that it was me when he went and did something as foolish and stupid as this! Men, which fool God created them?

Lying on the floor was not the best position to fight from, so I quickly leapt up, and, putting the full force of my anger behind my hand, I slapped him. Not a very manly move to make, I cannot imagine a man slapping another man in a fight, his eyes grew very suspicious just like his cheek grew very red, and grabbing my shoulders he pushed me backwards into a tree, as strong as I am, I am no way a match for him in physical strength. Snatching off my hood and tearing and ripping it in a wild rage of anger, then he stopped and cursed, eyes going back to their ordinary black, not that I would ever call anything about him ordinary, I smiled at him and grinned widely. He looked as if he wanted the earth to swallow him up and cursed and scowled once more.

"Hello love, you realise that you are a total fool?" How I wanted that hood again to hide my laughter, Gods readers, you should have seen his face! It was so comical!

He cursed loudly again, and growled at me,

"You realise you damn near broke my nose again? How many times do you want to do that? Have you got a problem with me having a straight nose or are you just attracted to men with crooked noses?"

I grinned even more and decided to tease him, "So… tell me, after you had rendered me unconscious and taken my clothes, what would you have done then? Gone back into the prison to hunt around and get lost and try to find my cell only to discover that I was not there?"

He scowled, "I was going to rescue you… you should be flattered… not insulted…"

"I have rescued you; you should be eternally grateful and worshipful of me, not insulted because I offended your dignity and fighting skills."

Releasing his hold on me, he stepped backwards and holding my face turned it and twisted it around, checking for marks, bruises, blood, and cuts or scratches. There were none, Aphrodite had seen to that. He however looked a state, battered did not even begin to describe him, his nose made him look even worse; his hair needed a wash, his face needed to be cleaned, his cheeks needed an ointment that would bring the swelling down, his cuts needed bathing and bandaging and Gods, I do believe he smelled even worse than I did, yes, we definitely needed a bath, or just some water at the barest minimum.

"I guess," He said, looking down and then up at me, "That after everything, in the end, I am the one that needed saving, not you. Which God healed you because you looked a lot worse than this the last time I saw you, and how did you get out?"

"How long did it take you to reach that monumental break-through, I mean, did it hurt your head thinking it through?" I teased him, but to soften the words I laid a silent and soft kiss on his lips and then continued. "How many times have I had to save your life now? As for my face, well… it did not quite look as lovely as your does at the moment, but Artemis healed some of tit, and after Aphrodite seduced and bewitched my judges and Danaus, she healed the rest for me too. It was Aphrodite who told me where I could find you, but I did have to play at dressing up on my own."

We walked over the road, along a narrow path that led through grass nearly as tall as I was, out of trouble and strife and into reality and responsibility. One more time did I have to hurt Lynceus, one more time that I would hurt because he was hurting. How I hated the burden of responsibility that I carried on my shoulders.

"Lynceus…" I began, knowing now why Artemis and Eros had found it so hard to look me in the eyes, Gods how I hated thinking of how much pain he would soon go through. "You know that I was imprisoned for not killing you… that I disobeyed Danaus and was thrown into that horrid place, forsaken by all the Gods…" I paused, I just did not know how I could continue on, what did I say to him, how could I soften the blow of telling him that my own sisters had kill his brothers? How did I break that news to him?

In the end he did it for me, pain in his eyes, but not blame, not hating me for what my half-sisters had done, not blaming me for the deaths of all of his brothers. He said quietly to me, "Were you the only one there?"

Biting my lip and looking up at him, I nodded. Then, seeing the desolate look on his face and in his eyes, I flung my arms around his neck and cried. Tear falling fast and freely down my face, mixing with the ones that trickled out of the corners of his own eyes.

"Not even one? One at least…?" He begged me, how I wanted to lie to him, to tell him that at least one out of his forty-nine brothers was alive and still lived, that he was not the only one left, that he was not now alone. How I wanted to lie, to tell him that everything was alright and would be okay, but inside, painfully I knew that I could not lie to him.

"Only I was held there, there was no one else." The silence after telling him that was deadening, how could I comfort him after telling him that all of his brothers were dead and it was really my fault?

"I am sorry, Lynceus, it was all my fault … if you had not met me… I should have done more; I should have done something to make them listen… I should have tried harder…"

He stopped for a moment and pulled me away, at first I thought he was going to blame me, to push me away and reject me, that was until he tilted my head back so that I looked him in the eyes,

"Do not ever think that this was your fault, I do not believe that and besides, what more could you have done, you could not have made them listen to reason, it was like they had been under a spell, and they were my brothers, it should have been me who did something, not you, it was not your responsibility to look after them, it was mine, not yours… but mine."

I tightened the hold my arms had on his neck and gently stroked his hair, with one hand awkwardly patting his head and the other one wiping away the tears that fell from his eyes until slowly the river dried up and none fell. It was then that I looked at him, for I knew that something was wrong about his appearance, except the obvious, that he was badly beaten, there was another thing different about him; his ear. I reached out and there was no onyx earring for me to touch.

"Did they take your earring? Gods, those mangy, worm eating…" During my description of those men I was broken off by Lynceus, quietly saying,

"No, they ripped it out."

In all the blood covering him, half of which I prayed was not his, hidden had been the slit in his ear, they had torn out his earring, ripping it straight out of his ear. I flinched, thinking about how painful that must have been, I did not touch his ear for I was as dirty as he was, and I did not want to infect any of his cuts or wounds. Now though, there was a much more pressing question.

"What are you going to do now?" I did not need to tell him what about, he knew and I just did not want to say, 'about your brothers.'

He looked at me, "If I took my revenge would you hate me? Because I could not handle that as well."

"No… I would not hate you; I just think… what if every time you look at me you see them, my sisters and not me?"

"You are as different to your sisters as chalk is to cheese, how could I ever see them in you, honestly you have some strange idea Nestra."

"Take your revenge Lynceus, take it for your brothers, I will not stop you."

"It should be your revenge really; your father has done you more wrong than he has done to me."

Because it had been Danaus who had told my half-sisters to kill Lynceus' brothers, it would be Danaus who received our revenge, Danaus would die…

"So we escaped out of the palace, only to sneak back into it, I only hope Celcy is alright, only the Gods know what Danaus might have done while interrogating her."

"The old woman is as hard as stone and as tough as old leather, I think she will be able to handle Danaus, but if you wish, we can check up on her."

"Can we? That would reassure me some more. By the way, what will happen to our boat, and all of the servants and everything? I mean, we missed the boat?"

"They will still be there, waiting for us. I will have to pay them extra I suppose for the wait, we should have sailed two or three days ago."

"Speaking of paying, of gold, here you are, thanks the Gods that they were not taken like your necklace."

I reached underneath the cloak and the robe and brought up our rings. I pushed his onto his third finger and brought up his hand so that I could kiss the ring, and he did the same for me, pushing on my ring and then kissing it.

"Anything else hidden in there?"

"No, but we will have to get back all of our things, I care not about the money, but some of the other things in that bag were personal and cannot be replaced."

In Lynceus' bag had been all of our money and his drawings, the small black book that he had given me for my birthday last year, they were as precious to him as they were to me, and I did not want to lose them.

"Why do we not go and see if we can blackmail and bribe the owner of the inn, and see where they went to?"

"You need some water first I think and if I remember rightly, there should be a little stream around here somewhere."

Walking a little further on, the grass thicker, greener and the ground less dry, we wee coming closer to water of some sort. Then I saw it, Lynceus stumbling down to splash into it, clothes and all, me, stepping in after him, soaking my head in the water, trying to wash off three day worth of grime. I found Lynceus floating on his back, thinking and looking sad.

"Does this ever get easier?" He asked me. Unsure of what to answer, I thought for a moment, how could I tell him that time would help him to forget, forget his own brothers, or what sometimes, the Dead would haunt him and he would find it impossible to lose their faces? It was hard and painful, but I had to answer him.

"Sometimes, all you will be able to think of is them, their faces, their laughter, their voices; they will haunt you some nights, while other times you will forget… I know not which one is worse."

"How could I forget them?" He asked me, "I still cannot believe that they are dead, I do not want to believe it… that they are all gone."

I hugged him again, standing waist deep in the water, "It does get easier…" I whispered into his ear.

The water cleaned away some of the dirt, the blood coming off both of us. I did not want to do anything about him until I had seen Celcy, she was more skilled at healing than I was, and knowing me, I would make everything worse, from looking liberally at the rest of him, albeit readers with a simple pride that he was my husband, I realised that even after he had been clean, he would need a lot of work done on his, Gods he had cuts and bruises everywhere.

I tied back my hair, pulling it back off my face, and making it so tight that only a few wisps escaped me, the wind of course tried to undo it and free my rebellious hair, but I would not let it.

Our clothes were wet, but under the sun and the strong wind they dried fairly quickly. Slowly we made our way backwards, towards the inn where our luck had taken a severe turn for the worst. All I had was this dark robe and it looked very strange on anyone, let alone a woman.

"Lynceus, wait a moment, do you want me to call Eros or Artemis for you and have them heal you now, or do you want to continue and have Celcy treat you, even though Celcy is good, her healing takes a lot longer than Eros' and Artemis', what do you want me to do?"

"Call the immortals and have them get it over and done with… will it hurt, them healing me I mean?" He looked so childlike there, asking me if it would hurt him, my heart went out to him and I felt so sorry for him.

"No, it feels like you have just has really cold water thrown over you. It is a bit of a shock for some one who has never had it done before, but worry not, it will not hurt you."

In my mind I called out to them, 'can you come and heal Lynceus please, he looks a really big, battered state, thank-you.' While I shouted out my plea, shouted because firstly, they might be a long way away and secondly because Eros would ignore it unless it was drummed into his mind, Lynceus covered his own ears futilely and winced.

"I can hear that, does it have to be so loud?"

"If it is not loud then cloth-mind over there will never listen to it." Artemis said with a smile, Eros grumbled, rubbing his head.

"You realise that you have just given me the mother of all headaches, did you have to shout Nestra?"

Smiling wanly at Lynceus, Eros clearly did not know how to act towards him; Lynceus tried to smile back, but simply could not. The bleakness in his eyes pained me, for there was little I could do to relieve it.

"Eros, do you want to heal Lynceus? I think he might feel a little more comfortable with you rather than me."

While Lynceus shivered and shuddered through the healing, Eros frowned and winced, his hands on Lynceus' head, feeling all the pain that Lynceus felt and all the hurt too. Today, Eros did not even tease or laugh at his reaction to his first healing, no one wanted to laugh or be happy this day.

"What are you going to do now?" Artemis asked us.

"Find the owner of the inn where we stayed in last, try and get all of our things back, and then go and find Danaus and exact revenge for Lynceus' brothers." I answered, I did not want to describe how we would exact our revenge, Death, even to some one who justly deserved it, was still a horrid thing.

"I have been given the responsibility of punishing your half-sisters Nestra. I asked for it, being so close to you some of the other gods were a little… hesitant, they thought that I would not be able to do it, they were wrong, being so close to you has shown me all the evil inside of them, all the pain and hurt that they had caused you. This… latest atrocity will not go unheeded, the Gods are furious, and as for The Fates, well… having their work taken from them and placed it not he hands of mortal is rather irritating them, your brothers were not meant to die Lynceus…" Artemis turned to him and laid her hand on his shoulder and continued on softly. "A warning has to be sent out so that no others do this again, your half-sisters will have an example made of them, Lynceus, your brother will not be forgotten, and years from now their plight will still be remembered and told."

Gods I had once asked what could kill the fifty daughters of Danaus and the fifty sons of Aegyptus when I had had a vision of only Danaus alive. The answer to that is the folly of man trying to distort the will of the Gods, and the punishment and justice of the immortals. Gods, what had we begun? My half-sisters were to be cursed for eternity, their fate was that horrible vision that had first come to be when I had been a young girl, I pitied them now, for even though they had done wrong and fully deserved Death, their punishment was dreadful… I would not want and had spent my whole life trying to avoid it…

In silence we walked to the town in which was situated the inn, heavy our hearts and light our footsteps. Eros tried to give Lynceus some silent, invisible comfort; but how could he? Only one who has lost as much as Lynceus has, father and all their siblings, can give that sort of comfort, no one else could ever understand. My only thought was, soon, would I understand, would I be able to kill my father, and stand by and watch as my half-sisters were eternally cursed? Would I? If I could, what sort of person would that make me?

Linking our arms together, Artemis next to me, me next to Lynceus, our hands clasped together tightly, Lynceus next to Eros, we made our way into the inn. Outside Artemis had, with the use of simple illusion made herself appear remarkably similar in looks to the girl dancing on the tables. The rest of us watched as she walked up to the owner, and with a tap on his shoulder, a wink, and some little flirtation, she told him that she had something to show him outside. After several bangs, a thud and two loud crashes we left the inn to find Artemis with violent red eyes, holding the man, with all his weight, in the air, his leg dangling, her hands around his throat, she was truly magnificent my Goddess of the moon!

"Now…" She spoke, so calm and cool, and I think that that was what was worrying and scaring the man even more, the fact that she did not appear to be angry. "You will tell me what you did with their bags, you will tell me now… or else." With that she tightened her grip on the man's neck, squeezing hard so that the man turned purple and squeaked. With that she released her hold on him a little.

"What was that? Did you just say something to me?" She asked.

"They are in the room, I have not had time to sell them on, it is all there, I promise, just let me go, please, just let me go and I will get them for you." The man was terrified and petrified, eyes popping out in fear and his hands cringing and wringing themselves, and I did not wonder why, Artemis was incensed, her eyes red and her face twisted in anger, but still, I felt no pity for that man, he had helped to beat up Lynceus and helped Danaus capture us.

"You will take me with you to get the bags, you I do not trust."

Pleading, begging, and sobbing, the man led Artemis back inside. We followed them up the stairs, right up into the rooms that we had paid for that fateful night.

"Mistress… mistress… please, I meant no harm… please, spare me, it is all here, I promise… please… please… anything…" Listening to him grovel was really, really annoying me, I mean, never do something if you cannot accepted the consequences of your actions. The man grovelled before Artemis as she glared at him,

"Get up you puny mortal, as if I can be bothered enough about you to put myself through killing you. Get up and stop your snivelling."

To my surprise, the man did just that, he got up and stood at the side while Lynceus and I counted all of the money that was in the bag, like he had said, it was all there, which was why I was… a little worried about Lynceus when he said,

"It is not all here."

The man protested that he had not touched a bronze coin of it, he had not gone near it, he was innocent, he had not done anything, and he was blameless.

"I think not, we did not stay one night in this inn, so where is the money we paid you?"

Digging into his own pocket the man threw coins on the bed, anything, he did not know sand he did not care, it was a great deal more than what we had paid him, he knew that and we knew that, but after everything that he had put us through, I think that we were entitled to it. I searched my bag, finding my necklace, my little doll and my wooden carving inside, and Lynceus pulled out all of his pictures and drawings. We gathered up all of the money and smiled at the man, who stood there, nervous, frightened, still cringing and wringing his hands. As we left, Artemis turned to him and with a sweet smile said,

"It was so nice doing some business with you; I will come again some time."

The man raced back inside his inn, ordered all of the people inside it out, locked and bolted the door and no doubt then hid under his bed! I turned to Lynceus, the only one of us who had not found it as amusing, his eyes still sad, and his fingers holding a piece of gold, twirling it around and around.

"It will not bring them back so what does it mater." With that he threw the piece of gold down the street, it clinked and clattered before stopping to rest in front of a homeless man who looked up, unsure at us.

"It is yours, you can keep it." I told him before walking up to Lynceus and wrapping an arm about him. What could I say, it was true, nothing could bring back the Dead to us, for if anything could, and I would have given everything I had for it years ago. What could I say to him? What could I possibly do to make it right again? … Nothing…

6, 741 words, not as much as the last one, but I promise a longer chapter next time! Bye bye, thank you for reading this, remember readers, I love you all!

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 4000 words a go.


	35. Avenging Brothers and Killing Sisters

A/N: Go and read my best friend's stories, 1madcat, especially 'if you are what you are not.' and her sisters site, sixfootbeetle.

**THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS, I APPRECIATE AND LOVE EVERYONE OF YOU. Come on you guys, lots of you are reading my story, but not a lot of you are reviewing! **

**THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER, THERE IS STILL ONE MORE TO GO, SORRY FOR ALL THOSE HWO THINK THAT I AM DRAGGING IT ON A BIT, BUT IT WILL BE A SMALL LAST CHAPTER.**

**In two days time I will be changining my name from 'Greywitch135' to 'Proclaiming Clio,' I promise that nothing else will change except for the name which will be explained in due time.**

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

Sleep came to none of us that night, for we carried on our journey, travelling slowly through day and through the night, back to that place where Death had already visited more than once and would, tonight, make one more visit. Some time we had stopped for a break, a rest, a chance to eat the food we had bought, in that break I had pulled Lynceus away from the others and even though readers I had never had this happen to me before and do not know how to react, held him to me, and told him that it was alright for him to cry. It would not bring the Dead back to life or avenge them, but it helped and maybe it would make Lynceus feel better, for his eyes still held that bleakness and he seemed disinterested in everything. Quietly and softly he did cry, did I think him a lesser man for doing so? No… signs of emotion, telling me that he was grieving was a reassurance to me and I loved him more for every tear that fell from his eyes, than if he had remained as hard, unyielding and as dry as stone. I had cried in his arms, and now it was his turn. We walked back to them, the immortal, hand in hand, and myself much more relived that he was not so distant and detached, while Eros did not quite feel mischievous enough to make some sordid joke about where we had been and what we had been doing, after looking at Lynceus, he judged that it was alright for him to do this sort of 'nudge nudge, wink wink' that was equally as humiliating and I would not have blushed so hard if the memories of that stolen night in the inn had not flooded back to me. Artemis, as loyal as always, smacked Eros and turned concerned eyes to Lynceus. My husband, how I surprising love calling him that, was not still himself and was very far from returning to normal.

Before the gates that led into the Inner City we stood, to Lynceus' eyes and other mortals who had the fortune to be normal, the was but two people there, to mine eyes, there were still four, Artemis next to me and Eros next to Lynceus. Through the gates we walked as easily as we had left this wretched place. So many rumours flooding out about us in the hustle, murmur and senseless and ceaseless chatter that on every side covered us, suffocating and making me feel ill. Those rumours were of the young Princes, all of them dead, those handsome boys come to marry our beautiful Princesses, they were all gone…

"No…" Said one in response, "They had not gone on holiday or left here, the only way that their bodies will leave the palace now is when the funeral procession carries them out."

"Gracious, how did they die, was it poison? Treachery in the palace?"

Voices joined, their words reaching us, the noise of the crowd dying down as if everyone listened and joined in, I will endeavour to write down what they said, but I was furious, how did they dare to gossip about such matters? Lynceus looked as if he wanted to snap something in tow, very dangerous for those ladies.

"No… it was the father, our King…"

"No… it was our Princesses, they killed them…"

"What all of them dead? Never!"

"Yes… all dead…"

"No… that was not what I heard, you know the recluse, the dark one, looks shifty and strange, the odd one out… you know… the one who is not a beauty like the others… well… she is on the run with her husband and it was them who killed the other Princes."

"Well… I never… goodness me…"

Lynceus looked at me and to stop him from strangling the plump, short women, some with baskets slung over their arms and forgotten in the prospect of more delectable gossip and other people's pan, I grabbed his hands.

"Are you alright?" I asked him,

"Yes, I was more insulted by them calling you dark and saying that you were shifty and not a beauty then by them saying that I could have killed my own brothers."

With a dim and fading twinkle in his eyes, he almost looked like he used to. But, it came and went, and all that was left was the empty shell of a man that was my husband.

"Well… considering my own family seems to enjoy killing off siblings, it must be deemed normal for others to do so." I said, trying to put back that sparkle in his eyes, but receiving only a twitch of his lips that I supposed was a poor substitute for his smile. Getting mad for some reason, I placed my fingers on his mouth, tracing the shape of his lips then rearranging them into a broad grin that I had seen so many times before in my youth.

"That is almost like a smile, if you wish to grin, then grin and not grimace." Instantly I regretted my hasty and thoughtless words, who was I to tell some one how to grieve, who was I to tell Lynceus to smile when all he wished to do was kill something, anything, to relieve tall the anger and flood of feeling inside of him about his brothers, who was I to tell him to be cheerful when his brothers had died.

"I am sorry, I should not had said that, it was not my place to tell you how to mourn your brothers, sorry…" I looked up at him as he answered me, this time with a genuine smile, albeit a rather small one, but it was still a smile, victory and success was mine!

"Who else's place is it? You are, after all, my wife, so who would you like me to take my orders from? My uncle, because who else is close enough to me to tell me what to do?"

He reached out and grabbed back my hand and through the gates we walked. Artemis with a smile as she watched us, and Eros, flicking Lynceus' hair and throwing twigs held by invisible hands at him.

"I will go and gathered your sisters together, Eros, you go with Lynceus and Nestra and stay with them while they deal with Danaus."

Artemis walked straight into the palace like a Queen, visible to all now, servants, however high or low gawped at her, to see a woman walk with such audacity through an entrance used only for noble who had been invited and expected for months, what was her business here?

I, however was not quite as bold, and sneaking through the palace grounds, I jumped into a bottom floor window, leading the two men that I cared most about, through it. I did not realise that there was a table extremely close to the window and by the time that I realised that it was there and had jumped onto it, it was too late to warn Lynceus and Eros about it. They landed on me and the table made such a frightful noise as it broke underneath us. I only thanked the Gods that the door was closed; else every servant in the vicinity of this room would have heard us. Besides that, how much did my husband and my immortal brother weigh? Because to my now bruised and half-broken back, it seemed rather a lot to be honest!

So obviously the quiet, unobtrusive entry into the palace had been a disaster, getting up we threw the broken pieces of the table to one side and continued on. The room we were in was a study, just a room with no one to occupy it and therefore it was a room with no purpose, it was thick with dust and desperately needed cleaning. Through hall-ways and passing by abandoned room we walked, I realised through the total lack of servants, that this must the older part of the palace, where only guests stayed to choke of moth-balls and to die by dust so that Danaus might take their kingdoms and countries too. We approached Danaus' bed chambers, the door was open and inviting us all to come in, the windows told us that we had been travelling for a day, the sun was setting and soon that murky shade of twilight would come. There was no one in the room, which was extremely odd at this time, nearly night, Danaus should be locked away in here with three or four other women servants. Very strange that he should chose this night of all night to disregard this, for he had been doing this for years, on the night that we happened to be here searching for him, I do not believe in coincidences, only fate, he had known that we would b coming.

That set off a search for him; we looked in all the rooms that we passed by on our way, servants stopping to look at the sight of the three of us. In the distance I heard screaming, Gods how hard did I try to block it out, to numb and harden my ears and my heart. So badly did I want to know what was happening outside, why was I so soft, so weak? I refused to let this stop me and onwards we marched, now with a great many servants following us. Into all the rooms that we passed did we look, but still nothing, had the coward left the palace in fear of his life? Well if he had, it was simply a pity that Lynceus' brothers had never had that chance. But, the man had not, after all, left the palace in fear for his life, we passed the throne room and there, in luxury, splendour and waste, he sat, two crowns on his head, one of gold and one of thorns and blood, his own and his victims, one the beautiful throne, the seat of so many Kings, he had placed himself.

Was this meant to remind us that we were prepared to kill a King? Or was this display of grandeur for his own benefit, to remind himself that he was still King? Was he delusional and hallucinating and talking to himself once more? I still had the dagger that he had given to me, and I gave it to Lynceus, fear not my readers, the sweet and bitter irony was not lost on me, my husband was to kill my father with the blade that my father had wished me to kill my husband with. Pressing it into his hands he looked at me, eyes black with pain, he needed me to tell him that I was still alright with this, that I still loved him. Which I did tell him, then off he went, towards the throne.

"Do you know why I am here old man?" Lynceus asked, his voice echoing in this room, as he stood, strong in front of Danaus.

"Revenge? For those foolish men, get it over with then."

Lynceus froze, even I could not believe my ear, what did Danaus just say, did he truly just ask Lynceus to kill him?

"What did you just say?" I asked him, a l;ittle surprised, I had expected more of a struggle than that.

"I said you stupid mere woman you, I cannot believe that you are from my own flesh, you useless excuse for a daughter, to get the revenge over and done with. Kill me, here and now." Danaus spat out his description of me bitterly, the words should not have hurt me, how many times had I head them before? But considering tat he was coming to his death, I had rather, in my foolishness, thought that he might have had something else to have said to me, but pain reminds me why I hate him so.

"Nestra… are you alright?" Came Lynceus' quiet voice to me, still asking me my permission for this, however much he wanted Danaus dead, it was still my decision to the very end, and at any time I said 'stop', he would have stopped for me.

"Go ahead, kill him, he is a disgrace to humanity and is a permanent stain on the pure goodness that is life…" I paused to suck in breath, biting my lip, something did not feel right, but then I continued, my voice soft and barely reaching him, "Kill him…"

Then I realised what was wrong about this, what was not right. If Lynceus killed Danaus now, then he would die in his crown, seated upon his hone, he would die still a King, an honour that had been denied to the real King Pelasgus and to my dear Uncle, Aegyptus, and it was an honour that Danaus truly did not deserve. I had not been going to say anything or interrupt to stop this, but my body had other ideas, as did one of the immortals.

I looked about the room, slightly scared as it grew fuzzy and faded, Eros grabbed me and held me upright, my eyes rolled backwards and all I could see was black, but this was not a vision… no… it was something totally different. A voice came into my mind, as clear as bells chiming and as soft and as pleasing to listen to as music.

"Do not worry Nestra, this will not hurt you, today your body will be an instrument for the Gods, I will guide you through this for myself and my brothers and sisters like not what is happening. It is our will that something should be done to change it. After tonight, your body will once more be your own, but for now, it is mine. Do not worry, I will be gentle, I will not hurt you." The voice seemed to echo in my mind and I thought dully, there was nothing I could do to resist, for I no longer had control of myself, I was now simply the mind and soul of Hypermnestra, I had no body; it felt much the same as being in Death. The, I concentrated, for I could hear my voice.

"Stop this… can you not see Lyncues? This wretched man, this lowly mortal, will die a King if you kill him. Look at him in his jewels and pitiful displays of power. Do you realise Danaus, that I could show you the whole world, peoples of every race and religion, and they would all bow down to me without me wearing every a single scrap of gold? What is it about mortals and public demonstrations of power and wealth? In his throne will this man die if you do not pause in your action, stop this now and drop your dagger, and I will tell you how he will truly die."

The sound of the dagger as it fell and then hit the floor filled the room, Lycneus had obeyed me, or rather the Goddess who had taken control of me. With that noise She continued.

"Alone and in his bed will he die, a pitiful weak mortal that will have Death come to call like so many other old… weak… decrepit… frail me. He will have no servant for there will be no money for even food. Seven years do I give him as King here, and seven years do I give for him to ruin even this country the same way his ruined his own family.

Before his death though, he will, desperate and weak, come to you, on his knees on the floor, bowing, kneeling and weeping in shame, he will give to you this country of Argos, our sons and daughters will live her, you will rule here after his death. You will break him just like he will break Argos, but under your rule will this country prosper once more."

She stopped again, turning, I would imagine, my body towards Danaus, then she spoke up again with my voice.

"Look at what you have become Danaus, look at all you could have had, now think of all tat you have lost because of you. The worst is that you will not change or alter your ways, and believe my words for I have seen. Truly now you deserve Death, but I will not allow it to be in this fashion, you do not deserve to die a King, and you will not die as one. Look at everything you have ever had and ever lost, you twin brother, Aegyptus, the only person that you thought you loved, Althea, your daughters, every one of them, especially the gem whose shine you never saw, Nestra, thankfully another has seen how she sparkles, even your nephews, soon, someday you will lose your country, why is it that everything you have turns to dust in your hands? The only thing you wanted was a baby boy, a male heir, and you even lost him as well, even your second and first wife did you lose. You mortal, I feel nothing for you but pity for your wrecked and broken life, think Danaus, why does everything you have turn to dust, why Danaus?"

He answered her, blaming others as usual for his on faults.

"People, they interfere, they take them away and they ruin them."

"No Danaus." The Goddess replied, "You ground everything you hold to dust and ashes in your hands, it is you, not others who ruin and interfere. It is you… and only you. Heed my words for I speak truthfully and truly… heed me… heed me…"

As the words faded from me, all I could hear was screaming, such awful animal screaming, like Greer when she had died, such a horrible noise. Slowly the blackness lifted its veil from my eyes and the room came into focus, with only a whisper in my mind.

"My thanks to you Hypermnestra, heed my words my friend, my thanks to you…"

That was all that I heard to prove that a Goddess had truly taken over my body. Trying to answer back I sent out a mental warning telling her not to do it again, but laughter was all that I received in return.

Groggily I looked about, glad that I was once more back into my own body, Eros was still holding me upright and, when he let go of me, my legs could not stay stable and I sank down o the floor.

"Nestra…" Called Lynceus as he ran to me, "Check her eyes." He ordered Eros, why did he want to check my eyes? I barely had enough energy to open them let alone fight against them as they laid me down on the floor and pulled open one of my eyelids, I felt so weary. Eros looked down at me, his blond hair standing out in the darkness of this room, and his bright brown eyes filled with worry and something else that at that moment I could not identify.

"They are green." Eros said with relief.

"What colour would they be, purple?" I asked them sarcastically as I tried to get up.

"Well… they were blue." Said Lycneus as he reached out for me and helped me to my feet.

"Dark or light blue?" I asked him.

"Light blue, why, does it matter?"

It did, it matter very much for light blue was the colour of the eyes of the Goddess who had taken control of me. I still know not to this day who she had been, I have my suspicions of course, of who she had been, what Goddess is known personally to me, who knows me so well she thought it appropriate to call me 'Nestra' and 'my friend'? Which Goddess has visions such as mine and would know the future, which Goddess has light blue eyes and enough influence over Eros to literally terrify him, for that was the expression on his face, terror, and he only looked like that when his mother was around. That is all that I will say on that matter.

My eyes fixed themselves on Danaus and in doing that I found the maker of that dreadful noise, Danaus was sitting on his throne scratching the arms and clawing at the legs of it, he had well and truly gone mad. His face contorted in anger, eyes blazed with the craziness hidden poorly behind a thin shield of sanity.

"Kill me… kill me now and let me die as a King… kill me… I am ordering you to kill me now…" He commanded us as if we would ignore the will of the immortals for him, as if he was powerful enough to bend the iron force of our resolution.

"Have you never heard of the word 'please,' I mean, did your mother never teach you even the crudest of manners?" Eros asked him, and he should talk, from his manners you would have thought Aphrodite had brought him up in a pig sty.

"What will you do?" I asked Lycneus.

"He can die an ordinary mortal, broken, old, shamed and humiliated in his bed all alone because no one will care for him. You are not worthy of being King and I will most certainly not help you die as one." Lynceus said to him, contempt written on every line, every edge of his face, but not when he turned to me, only love was evident then. "Me and my wife, who I consider the most precious and beautiful thing in the world, will be in Egypt, ruling over our countries when you wish to beg us, and when you do decide to pay us a visit, do remember that humility is a astounding thing and that simple manners can work wonders."

"Wait a moment." I said Lynceus as he wrapped one arm around me and moved towards the door. "Danaus, listen to what I say… listen…"

My mouth and voice were once more not my own, this was truly beyond belief, and was really staring to annoy me. Gods, miserable, horrid, meddling Gods!

"Thorns upon your head not gold

A crown of evil has still a hold.

Inside your heart no love can grow,

For hate consumes you, this I know.

On your throne with gold and glory,

The God's will bends not to your fury.

To me you'll kneel broken and shamed,

My son as your heir, him you will name.

Your wretched rule shall not be long,

My line will rebuild it, tall and strong.

Breathe your last in Argos alone,

Here in this place that I will one day call home.

Always truth shall be my word,

All that I say come true and be heard."

With that I left, but one more thing did one of the Gods have to do to me. A tear formed in my left eye, I blinked and as it fell on the floor I no longer saw two crowns on Danaus' head, only one, the crown of gold. Hades appeared before us for a moment and spoke,

"Live long loves and love always." He bowed to us, touching his fingers to the small pool of water that my tear had made on the floor and with a whisper of "It was an honour." He left, vanishing into the night.

We walked out into the courtyard, sill hearing Danaus' scream. I stood still in shock. My half-sister stood in a circle around Artemis, I say stood, but upon further inspection, they all floated about an inch or two above the floor. Their mouths moved silently, probably screaming without a voice, terror seeping through every pore in their skin and filling the air with their fear. Their beautiful blonde hair blown to and fro, beautiful faces made ugly with fury and horror, eyes so much like Danaus; clenched tightly together as if what they could not see was not happening.

Artemis was furious, from what I could gather and understand, some of them had insulted her by assuming that she worked in the palace and had therefore treated my Goddess as if she had been a servant taking a shorter path through the main doors. I do not think that they had believed her when she told them that she was a Goddess either. Some very bad moves to make, Artemis was so annoyed and enraged that her eyes were scarlet and wings had actually erupted out of her shoulder blades.

"Do you believe me now mortal girls, or do you wish to see more proof of who I am?" There was a distinct threat in Artemis' voice. "You can stay there I think, screaming like that is so impolite and rather frightening, do you not think?"

She saw us as we stood at the back of the circle and called us in, with a flick of her hands one of my half-sisters moved out of the way so we could walk next to Artemis.

"I do suppose that your small minds are possibly wondering why you are all here and Hypermnestra is the only one of you who is not. Look at the man next to Nestra, he is the reason why she is not dangling in the air right now with a gag in her mouth to stop he from screaming. Lynceus is alive, and that simple fact means that Hypermnestra did not kill him like yourselves, she is not a cold blooded killer who murders for no reason.

All of you weak minded foolish girls with milk instead of blood running through your veins obeyed that pitiful mortal in there." She pointed to the palace, and one girl, thinking that Artemis was pointing to her, fainted clean away. "That girl there, Hyperippe, I believe that is her name, is a good example of all of you, so foolish sh faints. Gods how much more pathetic can you get?

Forty nine boy died by your hands, innocent boys ho thought you were lovely, pure girls, in the end, how disillusioned were they? In the end wee they as scared, as terrified as you are now? You killed all of them, stabed them as callously as if they were animal. Did they cry as many of you are crying now? I ask you, are you crying for yourselves; for what has happened; or for what might have been? Tears do not bring back the Dead."

She looked to Lynceus, his face hard as he glared at his brother's murderers, looking each of them in their eyes. I grasped his hand tightly and rested my head on his shoulder, for this, we would both need strength, need each other.

"That is why Nestra is not there with you… love, love is what saved her, what made her different to you, and what eventually saved Lynceus too. Because you are apparently empty of that particular emotion Lynceus lost all of his brothers, just as you will lose your lives, for I will not allow you to live any longer, I will not suffer you to walk this Earth while Lyncues' brothers cannot, what evil did his brothers do to make they worthy of Death? What made them ready to die and you not? Why should I spare you?

Death is too kind for you, too quick, too easy, and too good for the deed that you have done. Danaus has been punished, why should you not be too? Why should you be forgiven?" Her voice grew louder and harsher, "I will not forgive and mercy is not an emotion that I will waste on you. Cursed was your fate and cursed therefore shall you be, the price of your evil has to be paid, and you will pay it."

She paused and looked at me then continued on.

"_Death comes now to you_

_And all the other forty-eight,_

_Share the same blood and the same fate._

_Stand afraid_

_In front of Hell's gates,_

_Tricked and cursed,_

_Forever you'll wait._

_No rest or respite,_

_For all of eternity, you must pay the price."_

The very words I had once spoken to them, words I had use to induce fear, enough do that hey would not kill, came from Artemis' mouth. The fact that I had said them first sent puzzled, confused and frightened eyes flickering in my direction, until, of course, the curse began to work. I had prophesised it once, now, Artemis brought it to life, her hands glowing a dark blue weaving a spell of Death and drudgery, muttering the curse to herself. Mouths open, again screaming voicelessly in fear, my half-sister watched, powerless as Artemis opened her hands, letting loose balls of light and power and repeated the last two lines of the curse.

"_No rest or respite,_

_For all of eternity you must pay the price." _

The balls of light separated and floated in front of each of my half sister, Artemis looked at the ground and brought her hands together with a loud clap, then she went on to repeat their names, every one of them in age order.

"Gorgophone, Automate, Amyone, Agave, Scaea, Hippodameia, Rhodia, Cleopatra, Asteria, Hippodameia, Glauke, Hippomedusa, Gorge, Iphimedusa, Rhode, Pirene, Dorium, Phartis, Euippe, Anaxibia, Mnestra, Nelo, Cleite, Sthenele, Chrysippe, Autonoe, Theano, Electra, Cleopatra, Eurydice, Glaucippe, Anthelia, Cleodone, Euippe, Erato, Stygne, Bryce, Actaea, Podarce, Dioxippe, Adite, Ocypete, Pylarge, Celaeno, Adiante, Ocme, Callidice, Hippodice, Hyperippe. All of you killed and now you will all die"

The balls, of light, at the name of the girl that they were in front of, vanished into them and one by one they sank, lifeless to the ground in a heap on the floor. I cannot describe what I felt to you readers, for surely if I do you will call me a fool, al I can say is that if I had ever held a grudge, or refused to forgive any of them, it was then that I gave forgiveness, I forgave them completely and let the Dead, and all the issues that they had given life, rest.

I broke free of a Lynceus' arm and ran to one of them, the one who had fainted, the youngest of the Danaides, of us, and I checked her breathing just to make sure tat she was dead… she was. I truly did not know how to feel, I was sad, for the waste of life that all forty-nine of my half-sisters had made, was I readers, supposed to feel nothing? Was I not supposed to feel sadness, feel pity? I know not, perhaps you do…

Lynceus came to me and wrapped me up into his arms.

"We have both lost our families now… I am sorry…"

"No…" I answered him, "Those girls were never my family and that man never my father. Your family was my family and your father was my father. Now… you are all that I have, all that I need and all that I want for my family."

"Come…" Lynceus said, "Let us get Celcy and go from this place of Death, let us travel home."

Away we went that very day, we bought camels and started on our long and hard journey back home, myself wearing trousers because I had utterly refused to wear a dress and ride, it would have been ridiculous, would it not readers? Because we did not have to go at a slow and dull pace this time, we reached the boat much faster, and not only that but we did not have thousands of slaves, there were few of us, including Celcy of course, and it took less than six months to reach the boat, instead of the year it had taken us before.

Once on the boat everyone, including me, suffered from sea-sickness, I think that the reason that I did not suffer from it before was because on my journey to Argos, I had been strapped to a bed and unable to sway and move about. But truly the motion of this infernal contraption made me feel ill, too and fro and too and fro… Gods it drove me crazy!

Celcy in her infinite wisdom had brought herbs for us to eat that made the boat a little easier to travel on, but they soon ran out, what with most of the crew needing them as well, but by that time, I had become accustomed to the movement and was no longer as sick.

I spend my days by Lynceus' side as we talked, walked, the close spaces made us even more aware of the other's faults, but also of their better virtues too. It brought us closer together and slowly, Lynceus recovered from his brothers' deaths. My nights were spend in his bed and in his arms, which was rather my rightful place, do you not think?

We spend sunsets watching out onto the ocean, with our arms wrapped around each other and Celcy telling us how romantic it was. We also spend time arguing, fighting, shouting and screaming, and more than a few times I threw chairs and other furniture that was not nailed to the floor at him, some missed, some struck him on target, neither of us changed that much, except in some ways…

It was towards the end of our voyage when the sea-sickness came back and nothing that Celcy did made it go away, when the shape of my body change drastically and obviously, when other… changes that I will not regard you with because they are totally inappropriate for me to tell, when I knew that I was not the only person inside of me, yes readers, I was with child, There was some one growing inside of me. Sadly I tried had to ignore the baby and pretend that it was not there, unfortunately that was not quite as possible as I had first thought it would have been being that whoever it was inside of me had a mind as stubborn as my own. Now, the question was, how did I tell Lynceus, Gods what were they doing to my life? They were doing this on purpose to torture me, I just knew it!

In the end it was simple; I reminded him of what he had said to me, that I was the most precious thing in the world to him, and told him that the grammar in that sentence was no longer correct, and that it should be we are the most important thing in the world to him. I mean, it was obvious what. His reaction was to smirk at me and tell me that he had known for a long time, in response to that I hit him; he picked me up and carried me, as bold as you please, through the ship and into our bed chamber. I mean Gods, why had his father never succeeded in teaching him manners?

Oh well… I do suppose that it was rather inevitable… Gods, would I kill the baby? What would I do? Gods! I need help, advice… possibly poison, for myself I mean, not the baby… what was I to do?

5, 878 words, not as much as I had promised, but it is not the end, there is still only one more chapter to go, and then what will I do my readers? (Evil and manic grin.) Why… start to write yet another story, this is not the end of Hypermnestra, fear not! I will be back soon!

**Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you all, I'm so glad that you like this story 'cause it's my favourite one out of all the ones I've written, and the best. **I am now setting a target for myself to write about 4000 words a go.


	36. The Ending

A/N: Go and read my best friend's stories, 1madcat, especially 'if you are what you are not.' and her sisters site, sixfootbeetle.

**WHATEVER YOU DO AFTER READING THIS, PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU READ MY AUTHORS NOTE ON THE NEXT CHAPTER, PLEASE, ITS JUST A LITTLE SOMETHING I WANTED TO SAY TO ALL OF YOU. THANKS!**

"… My only love sprung from my only hate…"

Once, my dear readers, when I was young and so very foolish, I used to dread waking, to open my eyes and find myself held in the thrall of yet another vision cursed by the Gods, or even worse, to find my blood turned to ice in my veins as I realised that I remember what I was doing, seeing, hearing or feeling, for I had seen it all before, because I was living through my visions. I no longer see the future; such gifts like mine are not meant permanently for mortals, we are not great enough yet to carry gifts meant only for immortal, and I only feel relief that I no longer have those visions, for you out of everyone readers know how much they tormented me. Now that I am old and still foolish, I thank all and everyone of the Gods that every day when I wake I am living through a constant and unchangeable vision, that when I open my eyes it is not to Death and destruction, but to my twin girls as they fight, scream, swear using words that I am afraid they have heard me speaking, and rip each other's hair out, truly I suspect that they inherited the worst of my qualities for they are the best of friends and the closest of all sisters, yet at the same time they are mortal enemies and compete against each other. My son wakes my by climbing on top of me or Lynceus and with a sweet kiss he clambers into my bed because of a nightmare or some hideous creature that his sister have invented solely to scare him, or I wake to my little baby, in her cot next to my side of the bed, screaming and yowling, she, I am sure, has inherited her father's lovely singing voice for she sounds nothing at all like me. It is far from anyone's idea of heaven or paradise, and we are extremely far from being your idea of a perfect family. But, this is my heaven and my children and my husband are all that I have, my only family, and truly all that I will ever need.

How, you may ask me, did you ever arrive that this revelation for it was once that I protested violently as is my nature, that I would never marry and that I would never have a child, and also how did your children survive their up-bringing up to this point? Well… upon my return to Egypt, to my homeland of dryness and heat, of the many fields of sand and occasional oasis', my home palace that once I had left, I did not return to, it carried memories full of Death and I did not want to live there or bring my children up there, instead we returned to Lycneus' home, once I had left here carried, frail and weak, I returned whole, hale and hearty, and so healthy that I even returned to my country with a child! Gods, after the scandal I had left and strewn about in my wake, and especially after dancing that shameful dance with Lynceus the night before I vanished off to Argos, the people of our lands must consider me some sort of fallen woman, it was laughable! Honestly, I do so wish that you could have seen the stares, there I was, stomach too big to be disguised as anything but a pregnancy, and flaunting my marriage ring for I had anticipated this sort of reaction and still I was glared at, you would have thought that I was carrying the child of Zeus, God Almighty, from their reaction to seeing my stomach. Besides their stares I was still insulted, I mean, what did they think, that I had eloped with Lynceus and married him only because I had been big with child? They really were such foolish, petty people and I know not what to think about their foolish petty beliefs, I honestly thought very little of them, and that was a dreadful beginning, I mean I was Queen over them and I already hated them.

Some time, around then, when I had come to Lynceus' home and tried to adjust back to living in Egypt, it was then that I fulfilled one of my visions. That day I had, being swollen, very fat, heavy and extremely irritable, gone to the river to cool down. Whatever it was that I was carrying inside of me could not possibly have been a normal human, it weighed a good deal too much, I only wish that instead of me having to put up with this for nine months, that Lycneus could have, that would have stopped him from laughing at me as I complained and moaned about feeling sluggish and tired, he most certainly did not make me feel any better. Lynceus had come with me because apparently now, simply because I was pregnant and it happened to be his child, that I needed supervision, Gods men, stupid annoying useless men! Trying to show him that I was still Hypermnestra and that I could still take care of myself, even though I could no longer see my toes, I reached out and grabbed a reed, hitting him around the head with it whilst he was unawares was very satisfying, although it did make him pick me up and drop me down into the filthiest, most vile smelling, most disgusting water you have ever, in your entire life imagined. Not only was I now heavy, fat and extremely irritable, I was fat and dirty and I smelled atrocious, I was also really furious, and the damn baby was kicking like it wanted to kick it's way out of my stomach and burst out into the river water. Gods, where were they when I needed them?

I picked up a large handful of the mud and threw it at him, his face was soon covered in the stuff and he could hardly do anything bad to me for I was already waist deep in the foul water, besides that my face was coated in it, my hair was saturated with it and hung in limp strands down my back, and my baby was surely going to be polluted by the stuff the longer I stayed in here! Eventually, Lynceus leaped into the water and picking up a reed, we had a very violent, bloody and pleasing fight, ending with me holding his head under the water while he choked and spluttered and hopefully drank most of it up, and then finally begged for mercy from me, which of course I gave after some time!

That night I fell asleep quickly, wondering whether my baby would decide that tomorrow that it would be born, myself, Eros, Artemis and Lynceus had been having an argument on whether the baby was a boy or a girl, I was convinced that it was a boy, I mean I had seen them, I knew, while Eros had placed a bet that it was a girl, Artemis agreed with him and Lynceus agreed with anyone whose opinion would annoy me. If it was a girl that would mean that I was going to give birth to twins and that I just could not cope with just yet, fool that I was! I thought that I knew better than the immortals! Fool that I am!

I woke up with a smile, on my sheets of silk, my head resting on a pillow so soft, so comfortable, but I was anything but comfortable, last night even with all the windows letting a breeze come in and Lycneus rubbing circles on my big stomach I had not slept. In the morning, I was so hot and could not sleep, and apparently, neither could my child for it was kicking as if it deliberately wanted to wake me up, and besides the kicking, my child felt as if it was as tall as Lynceus, I swear that I could feel the baby's feet right up in my chest it was that long. I thought that perhaps if could sit up and stretch then maybe my child would settle down and I could sleep again. I sat up and turned, to see myself in the polished silver that was our mirror opposite the bed, I looked about, there were some lovely things in this room, tapestries and silk embroideries, I looked at myself, and smiled, glad that I had short hair or else this torturous phase of my life would have been even worse. Then I froze, I remembered this, I remembered looking in the mirror and I remembered this room, I was living my vision where I was pregnant. I smiled again, I had chosen the right path after all, the path that I had been so scared of when I had been young, and trust me, I was still terrified now or it, scared of failure, of doing something wrong.

I pulled the sheet off Lynceus' head, was he not hot enough what with this God cursed weather? His mouth slightly open and breathing heavily, he slept as if he had not one care in the world, peacefully, without a baby kicking, without a baby putting it's feet up into his chest, the sight of him sleeping really annoyed me, why should he sleep when I could not, I mean it was his fault that I was like this, wrapping one hand around my stomach and tapping slightly to tell it to give in. I kicked him hard and viscously until he woke up groggily looking at me.

"What was that for?" His words slurred slightly, he looked as if he was still sleeping.

"The baby sent it, as a present. I thought that since you could not fully experience it yourself, then I should help you, I mean, you would not want to miss out, would you?"

Forgive my evilness readers, I have an explanation for it, I was pregnant and could not control myself. The baby came that day and it was not a baby, but two babies, my twins, my double trouble. I named them Melanie and Phoebe, Melanie was dark and Phoebe was light, both names were Greek and though dark and light were totally different, my girls were as alike as peas in a pod, and I loved them each so much, my first babies.

Do not get me to describe to you the horrors of giving birth to them, I had never given birth before and I knew not what to expect, Artemis tried to explain, but what she was describing was so hideous that I ignored until it was actually happening to me, and then afterwards, after my girls had been born, I held both of them, one in each arms and together both myself and Lynceus and Artemis and Eros cried, my tears washing away the blood from their tiny foreheads. My girls, I decided, would have everything, they would be loved in all the ways that I had never been by my father and they would have everything that I had always wanted and never had. My babies, my girls would be spoilt rotten. Eros fell in love with them the moment that he was allowed back into the room, he held them and kissed them, Artemis was much the same, as for Lynceus, well… I am not quite sure what precisely it was that I was going to give birth to, but he seemed rather surprised when I plonked a baby into his arms, father and daughter regarded each other warily until Lynceus cried so hard and his arms shook so much that Eros had to take Phoebe from him.

Sadly after my daughter I did not stay child free for long, my son arrived into the world more than a year after Melanie and Phoebe, quieter and much gentler than his noisy sisters had. After Abas, my beautiful son, I had a rest from baby making for a while and concentrated on ruling my country which really meant advising Lynceus on what he should do and ordering him about when he would not do what I thought he should, being a wife is a great deal more different than I thought it would have been, now I could boss him about and tell him that I did so because I was his wife and knew what was best for him, whilst before I had to order him about and supply threats to make sure that he obeyed! During mine and Lynceus' absences from this place of our birth, one of our cousins had ruled here, and ruled well, our section of Egypt had flourished under his care, so he was a very well respected adviser when we finally returned.

For six years news from Argos came to us, for six years we heard how slowly the people who, in the beginning of Danaus' reign in Argos, had loved him, now started riots, tried to assassinate him, hated him and wanted to overthrow him. From the descriptions Argos was suffering terribly, there was a lack of food, of money, and an all-around lack of vital necessities. People had been escaping Argos and passing through the borders into the neighbouring countries until Danaus, instead of addressing the problem of why the people wished to escape, wasted money and man-power by ordering his foot-soldiers to guard the borders and to kill all of the people how tried to sneak past them. People were suffering from malnourishment and so therefore they caught diseases much more easily and apparently, according to my spy, my source of information about Argos, the bodies were literally filling the streets, bodies of the dead, and of the dying, people too weak and too bone weary to move, to distinguish themselves from the dead. The idea of bodies just left in the streets horrified me, I mean, to myself and my people, the most important thing in life is death, and what happens after your death. To not be properly buried or cremated is to not have a soul at rest in the after-life, that is if you even reached the after life, for without the coins on your mouth or eyes, Charon, the ferryman, would not take you across the river of Death, the Styx. Then all you would do is wander the Earth, restless and like a ghost, a soul without a body.

So, six years after the birth of my son and seven years after the birth of my daughters, readers, since my children were actually alive and since I had not managed to permanently scar, seriously injure or kill any of them, would you call me a rather good mother? I was, at that time not only a rather good mother, but I was going to be yet again a rather big, fat, very pregnant mother, at least I would be in a few more months, I was, once again, pregnant, but barely so.

I had been in my rooms with my son sitting carefully on my knee and my daughters on either side of me, they all wanted to touch the new baby and feel it kick, even though it was probably a tiny, insignificant speck for I had only just realised that I was with child again. Lynceus had been with us, watching us as I tickled them, and listened to their shrill laughter as they played some games that for once did not result with Abas tied up with rope and hung out over the river Nile for a hippo or crocodile to find, worry not readers, the 'Nile' was only the woven blue carpet on which they played on, not truly the river, I am not that much of a irresponsible mother!

My hands about my waist I told the baby not to be twins again, because I do not know how I would cope with miniature Melanies and Phoebes as well as the real twins, that truly would be a living nightmare! So, continuing on, I was rather disturbed when I heard shouting and sound of a scuffle outside, for the servants never fought amongst each other in the palace. I reached out a picked up a long wooden walking stick that I had confiscated from my children when they had started to hit each other with it. Holding it gripped menacingly in my hands, Lynceus took one look at me and had the nerve to say,

"Stay here with the children." In response to that I told him to stay with the children and hit him hard in his shins with the long stick, even pregnant I am still a fierce foe. I only thank the Gods that no one knew would know that I was pregnant from simply looking at me, for I did not have a big bump of my stomach at all and I only knew that I was pregnant because Hera had told me, one day she had visited to see how I coped with mother-hood, that day was also cause for even more celebration when I realised that my children could see her, when Lynceus was squinting and trying desperately to see the invisible Goddess so that he did not step on her toes or cause some great offence like that.

Opening the door, I told the children to lock it and under no circumstances to open it to anyone but myself, Lynceus or a servant that they liked. After that I continued on after Lynceus, and there, in our main hall was Danaus, ripped clothing, old and used and many times repaired, hair long and straggly, he looked like a vagabond instead of a King, he was on the floor with two of my servants sitting on him, and another five glaring down at him.

"Sir, I do not expect you to have the intellect to understand this but if you could listen and look as if you are comprehending, I would greatly appreciate it. We were not expecting you, we did not know that you were coming so when I ask you to wait kind sir, I do not mean for you to run off and try to force your way inside here. Now, I need your name and purpose here and if I find it somewhat unacceptable, I will take the greatest pleasure in personally escorting you to the door and throwing you out."

The woman speaking was my house keeper, and usually they were meant to be men, but as Celcy was so efficient at ordering people about, an exception was made, and that practical, no nonsense, sensible woman did a fine job.

"Nestra!" She exclaimed when she saw me and pushed Lynceus to one side, "I swear that he tried to force his way through, I mean, no notice, no preparation and he expects to be seen this instant, as for his language, why, he should be ashamed of himself." She paused to turn to Danaus, mouthing obscenities silently. "Speaking like that in front of me and our Queen."

As you may have guessed, Celcy was the reason why none of the servant fought inside the palace.

"It is alright, he can follow us, let him up and we will see him."

With a grin Celcy signalled to the men sitting on Danaus, and with a simple hand gesture they sprang to do her bidding, I honestly think sometimes that she was more the Queen of this palace than I was.

"Two of you go with the King and Queen, that piece of pond scum is tricky and they may possibly need your help."

We led the way into a small room, used for transactions such as these, our thrones were there and in them we sat, staring down at that ragged bit of filth that the Gods had excreted out. Danaus, as Aphrodite had said, begged and pleaded for us to take Argos off his hands. I called for my son to be brought and my daughters too, Melanie sat on my lap and Phoebe sat on Lynceus', my tiny son, Abas, looked at us with confusion as Danaus first swore fealty to me and my husband, and then turned and knelt before my son and swore his service to him as well, Abas was named his heir in that moment, and my poor son looked bewildered, he did not understand what was happening and I wanted to keep him that way, innocent, for as long as I could. With that out of the way and done with, Danaus left our palace and our lands as quickly as he had arrived, all the while shooting thinly veiled insulted and disgusting looks at my children and myself.

Now, whilst we had ruled here, the first thing I wanted was a boat that did not rock from side to side so violently and was a lot faster. In that I had succeeded and we made the journey to Argose, leaving our cousin ruling in our name in Egypt, in a lot little more than six months. Gods what we saw stepping off that boat was a sight that I never wanted to see again, it was horrible, my source had not, as I had hoped, exaggerated the condition of Argos and to make matter even worse, Danaus had taken the liberty to die quietly in bed before I had even had to chance to ask question about the funds and the state of his debts.

Making things even better, my baby , a month early, decided that she wanted to be born premature, and Gods did she scare us all, so small, so tiny. She fought as hard as she could to survive and live she did. Unlike my other children, born big and strong, my little daughter was weak and quiet.

The first thing that Lynceus did upon arriving in Argos was to order all of the bodies to be burnt and cleared out of the streets. That improved things no end and then slowly, thing began to change for the better, but it still took hard work and worry and effort of both our accounts for it to change.

I have not forgotten the Dead, I tell my children about their grandfather, we had a tiny kitten named Greer and her story lives on through the night tales that my children listened to with such pleasure, I will never forget, but, I have made my peace with the Dead, they are at rest and I no longer feel guilt over them. When I die, I too will survive on through my children, through their children and on into their children.

Life here, after a year, has improved so much, my little daughter, Astraia, meaning star, is now a year old and I thank the Gods that even though she was born early and was not really meant for this world, that they saw fit to keep her here with me. Together, with her head on my chest we sleep, while I listen to Eros as he plays with my daughters, or to my son as he giggles with Lynceus. Maybe, hopefully soon, Eros will see sense and I will see Psyche come here with him, but that my readers is another story, next to the bed, Artemis and Celcy gossip and chatter, looking after me and my children as they have always done and will forever do. Although my own story has not been easy, now, with my family, I have found my happiness, my peace, my bliss. Fear not readers, this is not the end, but the beginning of something new, some one else's story, for my own is at a close.

The Gods keep and protect you all readers as they have me, goodbye and thank-you for all being with me as I have grown and lived.

PLEASE LOOK AT THE NEXT CHAPTER!

I HAVE NOW PUT UP THE SEQUEL TO CURSE OF THE DANAIDES, IT IS CALLED AN ARROW LET LOOSE, YOU CAN FIND IT ON MY SITE, READ IT AND REVIEW!!!


	37. Author's Note

Thank you all so much for reading this, for reviewing and for supporting me as I have written this. It has ended now, and after a year of writing I rather feel as if I have turned into Hypermnestra instead of Greywitch135, even moment of this I have enjoyed and I hope that you have too.

Could you help me with writing the next story and tell me some simple things. What your favourite chapter was and why, what your worst one was, your favourite character and worst one and why, most of all, what you liked and what you did not like about my story.

I love you and I thank you all… fear not readers, I will be back soon!


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